


Rescue

by Zylo



Series: Insanity AU [22]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Rating May Change, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22218064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zylo/pseuds/Zylo
Summary: What should have been a simple request for help turned into a much bigger issue. With the others captured by an unknown enemy, it's up to Thomas and a few capable friends left behind to mount a rescue mission before things go from bad to worse.[D3 + The Demon Realm]*Edit: 4/10/20**The very first story in the series is here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14529309/chapters/33569991Reading through the previous stories before this one is highly recommended if you haven't done so before, I'm just trying to help avoid possible confusion. :3*
Relationships: Andy x Pryce, DLAMP, Dayd x Teal, Original Male Character/Original Male Character, andy x virgil x deceit x remy x gifre
Series: Insanity AU [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1013913
Comments: 30
Kudos: 17





	1. The Begining

It started with a message from Jackal to Ian; a simple request for help in dealing with some low-level wannabe villains. ' _Nothing can ever be simple though, can it?_ ' Thomas thought to himself as he ducked out of the way of a sword's blade. The demon before him hissed, showing off several small but sharp teeth as his neck frills flared open. "Too bad you're not like frilled lizards back home; they're harmless to humans," Thomas remarked, dodging out of the way of the frilled demon's sword once more.

  
' _You're getting better at this_ ,' Shadow commented, his voice ringing in Thomas' mind.

  
' _Shadow?!_ ' Thomas thought, losing his focus on his opponent as relief washed over him, ' _You're still here?_ '

  
"Rule one; _don't_ let yourself get distracted!" The demon taunted, swinging his sword right at Thomas' face. However, the weapon never reached its target, a dark energy shield thrown up between the two. "What the-?!"

  
"Rule two," a calm voice said, followed by a swift punch to the demon's stomach that knocked the wind out of him, " _fuck off_." Gasping for air, the lizard glanced up into the unamused eyes of Shadow Thomas.

  
"...Lucky...shot," he grunted, stumbling back as he stood up. 

  
"Where are the others?!" Thomas interrupted, glaring at him.

  
"Hell if I know; it's wherever " _Mr. Dark and Dangerous_ " decided to take them to," the lizard said.

  
"Somehow I doubt _that_ ," Shadow muttered, aiming another punch at him. However, the lizard was able to dodge out of the way this time.

  
"I'm serious here!" He snapped back, frills once more flaring open. "I'm just a hand-for-hire! And if it'll get ya off my back, the guy approached me in Nightfall City!"

  
At the drop of the name, the two glanced at each other and back at the lizard. " _Where_ in Nightfall City?" Thomas demanded, crossing his arms.

  
"Near the ruins of the palace - and _before_ ya ask, I was there just looting through whatever was left for things to pawn off! " _Mr. Sheriff_ " ain't the only treasure hunter around ya know," the frill grumbled. "Can I _go now_?"

  
"On one condition," Thomas spoke sternly, "tell us your name."

  
"And if you don't, I'll knock you out and drag your sorry ass over to Jackal," Shadow threatened, voice low.

  
The frill felt a shiver run down his spine as Shadow spoke but forced himself to regain his composure quickly. "Bandit's the name, _Bandit the Frill_ ; hand-for-hire. Now then, _I'm outta here_!" Turning tail, Bandit swiftly took off running, kicking up a small dust cloud behind him.

* * *

  
Back at Jackal's office, the three exchanged information on what had occurred. Jackal reported that in the resulting chaos of the fight-turned-ambush one of the demons had made a bee-line in the direction of the jailhouse, forcing Jackal to focus his attention on them. "After all, the last thing we needed on top of that mess was another jailbreak being staged," he had told them, a scowl on his face. "If I had known that the others-"

  
"No offense Jackal, but with the way things went...I don't think your presence would have made much of a difference..." Thomas trailed off, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

  
"Right, right," Jackal uttered, shaking his head. "What we need to do now is focus on rescuing them. ...We'll need a team - big enough to get past any trouble but small enough to not draw attention in the city."

  
"Well there's three of us right now-" Thomas was suddenly interrupted by a voice.

  
" _Five_ ," Missy said, appearing from the Mindscape with Pranks in tow.

  
"We figured something bad was going down when Shads here up and disappeared on us in a hurry," Pranks said, throwing an arm around Shadow's shoulders, the latter's eyes widening in realization.

  
"Wait a minute - what about Tempest?" Shadow quickly asked, concern clear in his voice.

  
Missy held up his hands in a mock-defensive pose, "Don't worry, we didn't just leave her alone. We got Sun and Moon taking care of her until everything is okay again."

  
Jackal then cleared his throat to get everyone's attention back on track, "make that six. Gifre should be here soon; we were supposed to go treasure huntin' before all the damn commotion happened."

  
"He's not going to get distracted by anything " _shiny_ " is he?" Shadow asked, looking none too thrilled at the thought.

  
Jackal shook his head, "He's been workin' on that; still loves himself some treasure but lately he's been more into it for the thrill of things." His eyes then lit up in realization, "Say, didn't you two mention you found out the name of one of those ruffians?"

  
"Yeah, he said his name was Bandit the Frill," Thomas began to recount, "that he was hired by the guy who led the ambush, and that he was approached near the ruins of Nightfall Palace."

  
"Wha-?" Jackal narrowed his eyes, " _The ruin_ s _!?_ Those are _off-limits_ to the public!"

  
"Guy claimed he was a treasure hunter," Shadow replied calmly. "Looks like you have some competition in that department."

  
"Hmm. Wouldn't be the first time, nor the last," Jackal muttered.

* * *

  
Gifre had a few expectations upon visiting Jackal; one was having a small competition with him while out treasure hunting and the other was to maybe get into a bit of trouble. ' _A bit was clearly an understatement_ ,' he thought to himself as he stepped into Jackal's office, only to be greeted with more than just the sheriff there. "What the-? Guys? What's going on...?"

  
"Good, you're here," Jackal said, nodding at him in acknowledgement. "We uh...have a bit of a problem going on. Thomas?"

  
' _Not what I was expecting but hell, beats a regular old day that's for sure_ ,' Gifre thought to himself as Jackal and Thomas recounted what had gone down.

  
"-so will you help us?" Thomas asked as he finished the story.

  
Gifre stretched as he leaned back against the wall, "Yeah, I'll help. But are you _sure_ you don't want the others to help too?"

  
Jackal shook his head, "Not right now; best to wait in case things start takin' a bad turn."

* * *

  
"Sir, Bandit got left behind," a black-suited humanoid-demon said, standing before his boss's desk.

  
The boss let out a disgruntled sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "I suppose that should have been expected. You get what you pay for after all."

  
"Should we track him down?" A second humanoid demon asked, looking similar to the first.

  
"... _Yes_ ," the boss said after a moment of contemplation. "On your way out tell the guards to keep the prisoners _quiet_. This old building isn't exactly too far from the city; no need to draw unneeded attention."

  
"Yes sir," both said in unison as they took their leave.

  
As they left, the boss got up from his chair and walked over to a window that overlooked the city. "To think, we managed to capture some of the heroes who took down old Titan. There's some _money_ to be made in the fighting ring with them..."


	2. Mendax vs. Ragnar

"Alright " _heroes_ ", listen up!" The boss said as he walked up to the holding cell where the others were, each one shackled and looking ticked off. "As I assume the guards demonstrated, the chains keeping you here are designed to electrocute whoever tries to break them...or be manually activated at our discretion," he began.

  
"Here's what's gonna happen - you guys are going to make me a lotta money in the city's underground fighting ring; people are going to pay _a lot_ to see these fights considering the whole " _helped take down Titan_ " thing and all. Once they eventually start to get bored, I _may or may not_ consider letting you go," he finished.

  
"And if we _refuse_?" Aiden asked, the faintest scowl acting as the only indication of his blood boiling with rage.

  
"Bold of you to assume I'd even give you the choice," he responded as composed and calm as ever. "Oh and by the way, my men usually call me " _Mr. R_ " or " _boss_ "; you all on the other hand get the honor of calling me " _sir_ "." As Mr. R turned to walk away, a smirk crept across his face as he heard the various protests and threats coming from his prisoners. "Quiet down or my guards _won't hesitate_ to flip the switch for the shackles."

* * *

  
On a mostly empty train headed to Nightfall City, the others were working out their current plan of action. "So it's agreed then," Thomas said, slumped in one of the seats, "we head to the palace ruins and look for clues to start with."

  
"What if we don't find anything?" Pranks piped up, stretched out on some of the seats. Next to him sat Missy, the latter whom looked less than thrilled at Pranks using him as a makeshift pillow.

  
"Either way we'll have to ask around and see if the civilians have seen anything suspicious," Jackal responded.

  
"Assuming they'd be willing to speak to a bunch of strangers," Missy pointed out.

  
"Not necessarily _strangers_ ," Thomas argued, "at least a few have to recognize Jackal, Gifre, or myself. ... _Right?_ "

  
" _Right_ ," Gifre agreed, "and if they don't talk then we can always bribe them into it."

  
"...Is that even ethical?" Missy asked.

  
"Who cares; if it means finding the others sooner then good," Shadow muttered, busy keeping a concerned eye on Thomas.

* * *

  
"Well, looks like we have a full crowd for this fight!" Mendax growled and put his hand up to cover his organic eye from the bright lights of the fighting ring. He could hear cheering as the announcer went about hyping the audience up for what was to come. Once the lights dimmed, he was able to take a good look around. Bars came up from the sides of the ring and met at the top, forming a sturdy dome, safely separating the crowd from the forthcoming action.

  
' _A caged match_ ,' Mendax thought to himself. ' _Just my luck...no easy escape._ '

  
"Coming in from the left - the one, the only, _Ragnar_!" The announcer yelled, gesturing over in that direction. Coming from the shadows was a hulking bull demon. "Ragnar is new to the arena, looking for a shot at glory and fame!" Ragnar merely grunted and cracked his neck loudly.

  
"And from the right - this is a _special_ fighter, courtesy of Mr. R, one of the heroes who helped topple Titan's reign of terror, _Mendax_!" At that cue, one of Mr. R's guards shoved Mendax forward. He was greeted to the sounds of the crowd getting impossibly louder in their cheering and to Ragnar glaring daggers at him.

  
"Er... _Ragnar_?" Mendax held his gloved hand out awkwardly, glancing up at his opponent.

  
Ragnar merely huffed and continued to glare at him, "I intend on winning. _Got that punk?_ "

  
' _I got money riding on you this fight so don't screw up,_ ' Mendax heard Mr. R's voice echoing in his head. Refocusing, he lowered his hand, a displeased expression on his face. " _We'll see..._ "

  
"Alright, the rules are simple! Whoever gets knocked out first loses!"

* * *

  
At the sound of the bell Ragnar charged at Mendax, the latter dodging out of the way quickly. Using his tail he tripped up the bull demon, sending him crashing face first into the ground. However, this hardly stalled Ragnar and he swiftly got back onto his feet, glaring over his shoulder at Mendax.

  
"Two can play that game," he huffed angrily, falsely charging at Mendax to keep him on edge. After a brief lull, Ragnar rushed at Mendax, mostly missing but managing to gash his opponent's side with one of his horns.

  
"Shit!" Mendax hissed out, jumping back away from Ragnar. Thinking fast Mendax activated the scanner built into his mechanical eye, all the while trying to keep away from Ragnar. ' _No immediate weaknesses...maybe I should-_ ' Before he could finish his thought, the bull grabbed him by the tail.

  
" _Surprise_ ," Ragnar said, a sadistic grin on his face. In an instant he began using Mendax's tail to slam him around the arena like a rag doll, all the while the crowd kept cheering loudly. One particular slam left Mendax seeing stars as pain shot down his back.

  
"Fuck..." Mendax gasped out, his vision distorting by the second.

  
"Well _that_ was easy. I think we're already done here," Ragnar stated, readying his arm to slam Mendax down one more time. What he didn't expect was a rush of adrenaline surging through his opponent, pushing Mendax to lunge up at him and bite down on said arm with a pair of sharp fangs. "Argh! Why you-!"

  
Mendax kept biting down as Ragnar began trying to free his arm, glaring at the demon with a manic look on his face. Gripping onto the bull with his gloved hand, he struck Ragnar with his clawed one, digging them into the area between shoulder and neck. All the while Ragnar stumbled around in a fit of pain and blind rage until he unintentionally let go of Mendax's tail. As soon as he did, Mendax roughly pulled his mouth and claws away at the same time and used his tail to hit Ragnar with all his might. Between the confusion and Mendax's burst of adrenaline-fueled strength, Ragnar was sent flying headfirst into one of the walls of the ring.

  
Stumbling backwards, Mendax landed on the ground as the pain came rushing back over him. The next thing he knew the announcer was holding his arm up excitedly. "Please give a round of applause for this match's winner! Mendax!" As the crowd cheering and the lights once more shined brightly over him, Mendax felt himself lose consciousness as the announcer casually called out the word, " _medic_ ".

* * *

  
"Yes! That's right! He won!" Mr. R cheered from the betting area, having watched the fight on one of the TVs mounted to the wall.

  
"Mr. R?" One of his henchmen asked.

  
" _What?_ Can't you see I'm celebrating here?" Mr. R snapped.

  
"We still have no clue where Bandit is," the henchman responded.

  
Mr. R rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses, "Figures. Keep searching for him then. Whoever brings him in first will get a nice bonus. Got it?"

  
" _Yes sir._ "


	3. Roman vs. Bandit

" _Mendax!_ "

  
The collective yell that ensued upon the group watching Mendax collapse startled the on-duty guard awake and sent him scrambling to not fall out of his chair. Steadying himself using the table he formerly had his head down on, the guard looked between them and the TV that Mr. R had insisted on being wheeled in " _for their entertainment_ ". Letting out a hum of acknowledgement he spoke up, "Cool it. The arena's got some of the best docs this side of the city."

  
"Vile fiend! When we get out of here-!" Roman's threat was cut off by the sound of a door opening.

  
" _When_ you get out of there is when _I_ say you get out!" Mr. R snapped briefly before his expression changed back to one of delight. "Your friend just made me a lot of money by taking down that hotheaded bull and the guys running the joint are looking forward to the next one of you heroes stepping into the ring."

  
" _Where is Mendax_?" Logan demanded, speaking in a firm tone, his eyes looking as cold as ice.

  
"He's in the medical wing, getting patched up," Mr. R said dismissively, "he'll be back on his feet in no time. Now, as for why I came back here early - one of you is gonna be in the next fight. You can either volunteer or I drag you out of that cell myself; either way, a fight is happening tonight."

* * *

  
Mendax groaned as he came to, putting his hand up to his face as bright light flooded his vision. Once he got used to it, he took the time to look around, taking note of the fact that he appeared to be in a hospital room. Sitting up, he felt dizziness wash over him and shook his head trying to clear it.

  
"Ah, Mr. Mendax, you're awake. That's good to see."

  
Mendax blinked and confusedly looked in the direction the voice came from. Standing in the doorway was a humanoid-demon dressed as a doctor. In his hand was a clipboard and he offered Mendax a smile. "I'm Dr. Jay; head doctor here."

  
"What happened...?" Mendax said, eyeing him warily.

  
"Ah yes, the ar-... _the medics_ brought you here," the doctor said, looking down at said clipboard. "Well, anyway, your state upon being taken here was a case of " _looking much worse than it was_ ". Basically, a few days of bedrest here and you'll be good to go."

* * *

  
"Yeesh, this place is creepier _now_ than it was before," Gifre remarked, standing before the ruins of Titan's palace.

  
"You're telling me," Thomas muttered, glancing around warily. "What are the chances of something happening Jackal?"

  
"If you mean running into a ghost or something, doubtful," Jackal answered, leading the group toward what was left of the front doors. "You know the spirits of the former family have moved on."  
"Actually, I was talking about... _him_ ," Thomas replied, feeling a chill creep up his back at the thought of their former enemy.

  
"Titan's _dead and gone_ ; Gunther and I have come back to the old Cavern of Spirits to make sure of it," Jackal explained calmly, looking around the ruined hallways. "Multiple times actually. The body was recovered and burned; the ashes scattered to the wind."

  
"...I take it this Titan guy wasn't a nice dude," Pranks commented, idly running his hand along the walls.

  
"Understatement of the year," Gifre snarked, earning an annoyed look from the figment. Before Pranks could retort, Missy gave him a look that said " _don't start._ "

  
"Huh? What's this?" Missy asked as his foot accidentally kicked something that made a dull clang fill the halls. Digging through the debris, he pulled out a broken frame, the picture inside remaining unscathed.

  
"That...? That's Titan;" Jackal said, pointing to the larger, older-looking demon. He then pointed to an unhappy Gunther next to him, "And that is Gunther."

  
"Hmm...should probably destroy it," Shadow remarked, having been trailing behind the group to keep a look out for any danger.

  
Thomas nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah, I don't think Gunther would ever want to see _that_ again."

  
Unbeknownst to the group, someone was watching them from around a corner. ' _Ah damn it, those guys again? ...And now there's more of 'em,_ ' Bandit thought to himself, a scowl on his face. ' _All I want to do is loot some treasure, is that too much to ask for?_ '

  
Letting out a breath once the group turned down one of the other hallways, Bandit let himself relax. Gathering his equipment, he walked down the opposite direction quickly, ' _Gotta step up the pace before they catch wind of me being here._ ' Once he made it back outside, he took off like a bat out of hell.

  
"Found him," a suited demon said into a walkie-talkie, watching from his perch on a dead tree. "He's on the path from the palace to the city. You remember what the boss said - _get him_."

  
" _Got it_ ," one of his coworkers answered.

  
As soon as the city came into view, Bandit let out a short laugh, "Home free!"

  
"Home? Yeah," one of Mr. R's men said, stepping into Bandit's path, smirking as the frill crashed into him and falling to the ground. "Free? _No._ "

  
"Wha-?" Bandit shook his head in confusion, only to realize he was surrounded by more of Mr. R's minions. "Ah shit..."

* * *

  
"Welcome back to another spectacular fight!" The announcer yelled as the crowd cheered. "As promised, we have another hero courtesy of Mr. R!"

  
Under normal circumstances Roman would have welcomed the cheering crowd. Instead he was uncharacteristically silent, gripping his sword tightly as he looked around. Once more the cage around the arena was up, this time dyed red after the fight that occurred ten minutes earlier.

  
"Here are the two entertainers for us! On the left is _Bandit the Frill Neck_ and on the right is _Prince Roman_!" The announce yelled into his microphone, "Without further ado, let the fun _begin_!"

  
"Oh, I remember _you_ , fancy pants," Bandit taunted, moving around the arena. "Don't worry about your friends, they're fine; _clueless_ but fine."

  
"You and your employer have a lot to answer for," Roman snapped, rushing at Bandit, slashing at the demon with his sword.

  
Bandit dodged out of the way, making sure to keep moving, "Nah, _just him_. I'm stuck in this mess just as much as you now." He once more dodged out of the way of Roman's sword, tripping Roman up with his tail.

  
Roman quickly got back on his feet, glaring at the demon, "Serves you right then." He rushed at Bandit on his left, only to step quickly to the right at the last second, slashing the frill's back.  
Bandit stumbled forward in alarm, feeling painful heat shoot through him as his shirt started to feel wet. "Mother-!"

  
"Father," Roman said, a grin breaking through as he briefly thought of Patton yelling that during one of their earlier videos.

  
" _What-?_ " Bandit was cut off by Roman, the prince slashing his right arm followed by kicking the demon in the back. Bandit felt the pain increase tenfold and he hit the ground with a heavy thud.

  
"You're not much of a fighter," Roman remarked as he stood over Bandit.

  
"No shit-" Bandit felt himself becoming overwhelmed quickly, his vision fading in and out. "This _ain't over_ , not by a long shot."

  
"We'll be ready for you - and _him_ ," Roman remarked, his voice the last thing Bandit heard before losing consciousness.


	4. The Hospital|The Palace

When Mendax awoke once more he was greeted to the sound of frustrated growling. Curious, he looked over and saw a certain lizard demon stuck in the bed next to his. " _You-?!_ " Mendax yelled in surprise and annoyance, drawing the demon's attention to himself.

  
"Oh great, another one of you heroes," Bandit retorted sarcastically. "Of all the rooms they-"

  
"You're _lucky_ we're in a hospital," Mendax spat, glaring at him.

  
Bandit rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, grunting as his back yelled at him. "I'd have been luckier if I didn't get thrown into the ring against that prince guy."

  
" _Prince_? _Which_ prince?" Mendax demanded, his gaze never trailing from Bandit.

  
"The announcer said his name was _Roman_ ," Bandit snapped back, growling as he saw Mendax's expression turn smug.

  
"Knock knock!" Dr. Jay said as he opened the door. Looking between the two, he tilted his head. "Everything okay in here?"

  
"Just _fine_ ," Bandit grumbled, glaring at Mendax.

  
"Er...right, well," Dr. Jay peeked out into the hall before locking the door. "I know you both came from the _arena_...just, _why_?" At that question both of them looked confused. When he was answered with an echo of " _what?_ " Dr. Jay continued. "Why did you join the arena?"

  
"I didn't join-" Bandit quickly interrupted Mendax.

  
" _We_ didn't join; not willingly," Bandit answered, ignoring Mendax's glare. "There's this guy, Mr. R. R-"

  
"He's got a racket going on," Mendax interjected, shooting a taunting look at Bandit. "He has most of my family captured and he's forcing them to fight; win or lose he's making money off of them."

  
Dr. Jay scowled as he took in what was said, "...You know, this just might be the thing that'll help take down that damn place." Upon receiving more confused looks from both, he explained, "Because of that arena, the hospital is constantly receiving more than the normal amount of patients we used to. It's caused shortages of rooms and supplies, overworked our staff to the point of exhaustion, and I'm almost certain that the arena's " _medics_ " have been stealing things to pawn off."

  
"So why you tellin' us this?" Bandit questioned, eyeing him warily.

  
"Once both of you are fully healed I can sneak you out of here," Dr. Jay said, "I know this can throw my job into jeopardy but it's worth the risk; I'll stage a sudden lock-down; cause one hell of a ruckus. No one will know where you went during all the chaos."

  
" _Perfect!_ " Bandit exclaimed, gesturing over at Mendax. "Snake guy over here can go do the whole " _hero thing_ " while I get the hell out of here and back to Ironvale!"

  
" _Or_ I can drag you with me," Mendax snapped, "after all, _you_ helped get my family captured in the first place!"

  
"Over my dead body!" Bandit shot back, his frills flaring out.

  
" _Enough!_ " Dr. Jay interrupted both of them. "Once you're out of here you can settle this issue. However, I will _not_ have you two trying to attack each other in this hospital! _Do you understand?_ "

  
Startled, both of them looked at Dr. Jay, "...Yes sir."

  
Dr. Jay's expression quickly turned back to normal and he sighed, "Good. Thank you."

* * *

  
" _How?!_ " Gifre yelled aloud to himself, looking pissed off. "How the hell did I get lost?! The others were right there a second ago!" Grumbling, Gifre looked down the hallway he was in, only to be greeted with darkness. Despite any apprehensiveness, he forced himself to start walking, feeling a chill go down his spine.

  
"Why am _I_ always the one who gets lost in the creepy places anymore?" Gifre complained, "If it's not when I'm with the guys, it's when I'm with Brant and Adam. Now apparently when it's not with those two, it's literally with anyone else!" While he complained to the air, he was unaware of someone watching him.

  
"Target spotted," Mr. R's henchman whispered, following Gifre at a distance. After alerting the others to Bandit's rush towards the city, he'd decided to investigate the palace himself. "Mr. R is gonna give me a nice bonus for this, I know it."

  
Reaching the end of the hall, Gifre stopped in his tracks and looked around, coming to a fork in the way. "... _Joy_. Which spooky hallway should I choose now?" Gifre remarked sarcastically, feeling another chill. "God I wish the rest of the Troublemakers were here right now..."

  
"So do I, then I'd get an even nicer bonus," a voice said from behind him. Gifre snapped around and was met with a pair of hands grabbing his shoulders.

  
"Woah, bad touch!" Gifre commented, sucker punching the henchman in the gut. He then jumped back as the demon recoiled, putting his fists up as a warning. "You wanna fight? Then bring it!"

  
Coughing, the demon stood up and cracked his knuckles, "Your mistake, punk."

  
Gifre swiftly dodged out of the way of a punch and uppercut his opponent. "Sucks to be you; I started training after the whole Titan fiasco." Gifre followed this statement by drop-kicking the demon and then, after getting up quickly, kicked him in the abdomen as he fell.

  
As the demon groaned, he tried to get up only to be pushed back down by Gifre's boot on his chest. "Not to mention that I'm in a bad mood," Gifre snapped, wishing he were anywhere else at the moment as adrenaline rushed through him. The next thing he knew, his vision went dark just as he witnessed the demon desperately grab something out of his pocket and stab him in the leg with it.

  
When he finally came to, Gifre was sitting on the ground, the metal plating on his boots tinted with dried blood. " _What the...?_ " Looking over, Gifre noticed the demon who he was fighting earlier was still on the ground, only this time surrounded by a red puddle. Jumping to his feet in shock, Gifre backed into the wall, unable to take his eyes off the body. "What the fuck?!"

  
"Are you alright?" A gruff voice asked from behind.

  
Snapping around, Gifre came face to face with Shadow. "I... _what happened?!_ " It was then he registered the pain in his leg and, looking from Shadow to the demon, he noticed the bloody knife laying besides the corpse; alongside was a half-empty syringe filled with clear fluid.

  
"We split up to search for you," Shadow explained. "I heard you yelling and when I got here, you were knocked out."

  
Gritting his teeth, Gifre briefly looked down at the wound before limping over to the body. Carefully reaching down, he grabbed the syringe and held it up for Shadow the see. "D'you suppose this is what sent me off to dream land?"

  
After a few moments Shadow merely nodded his head, "If I had to guess then yeah; it's probably tranquilizer."

  
"That would explain how the rest of those bastards got the upper hand on the others," Gifre said angrily, wincing as pain shot up his leg.

  
"Come on, we'd better head back," Shadow suggested. Walking over, Shadow swiftly picked up a startled Gifre.

  
"Hey! What-?!" Gifre began to protest only to be cut off.

  
"Your leg is injured and needs to be taken care of. You walking on it down the halls won't help," Shadow said, ignoring Gifre's indignant grumbling.


	5. Virgil vs. Asher

As Shadow walked away with an annoyed Gifre, the demon woke up to a pounding headache and grimaced as he felt sticky, drying blood clinging to him. Quickly rummaging through his coat pockets, he pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Boss?" He called through, waiting for an answer as the device crackled.

  
" _Where are you?!_ " Mr. R yelled, his voice coming in clearly. "It's your turn on guard duty!"

  
"I uh...I found the other guys that escaped during the first ambush," the demon explained, rubbing his temples. There was silence on the other end before Mr. R's tone changed to one of excitement.

  
"You did?! _Where?!_ " Mr. R exclaimed. On the other end, he was practically on the edge of his seat, the thought of money flowing through his mind.

  
"Inside the old palace; same as Bandit," he said, "one of them - a guy in a red star shirt - he...he kind of got the drop on me..."

  
"...Roger, Roger, Roger," Mr. R tsked, once more sounding annoyed, " _this_ is why I have you guys do _group_ ambushes."

  
"So...what do you want me to do?" The demon - Roger - asked, frowning at the blood staining his shirt.

  
"How injured are you?" Mr. R asked with an annoyed sigh.

  
"Uh...I was knocked out pretty good, my damn clothes are stained now..." Mr. R then cut him off.

  
"Alright, _you_ just get to the hospital then," Mr. R ordered. " _I'll_ work on a plan to lure them into the city itself. We'll capture them yet."

  
"Right right; just one thing - maybe it's just me being biased but the guy I mentioned? He could be _arena champion_ material-" Once more Mr. R cut him off.

  
"Roger, have I ever told you I love the way you think?" Mr. R commented; Roger could all but hear his pupils turn into dollar signs.

* * *

  
"Guys, _what happened?!_ " Thomas yelled in shock upon seeing Shadow and Gifre, the latter wincing as pangs of pain shot through his leg every so often.

  
"Some jackass showed up," Gifre grumbled.

  
"One of the bastards who ambushed you and the others," Shadow explained, letting Gifre down, the latter leaning against a wall for balance. "Gifre found a syringe on him."

  
Gifre nodded his head and held out his hand, "This junk knocked me out. We're pretty much sure it's some kind of tranquilizer."

  
Jackal took the syringe, careful not to accidentally jab his own hand with it, "That would explain how the others got captured in the first place..."

  
Suddenly Missy pushed Gifre to sit on the ground, carefully moving his injured leg. "What're you doing!?" Gifre asked, followed by a hiss as his pants leg was pushed up.

  
"That leg of yours needs to be taken care of," Missy said. "Pranks?" In a minute, Pranks had disappeared and reappeared with a small first aid kit in hand.

  
"Missy's good at dealing with that stuff," Pranks remarked, "I know from experience."

  
" _Too much experience_ ," Missy snarked, getting to work on cleaning the stab wound.

  
"Somehow I doubt Pranks gets into _nearly_ as much trouble as Roman and Pryce do," Thomas said, patting said figment on the back. That remark earned some snickers from the others as he added, " _Don't_ tell them I said that though."

* * *

  
"I'm worried about Gifre," D2 Virgil said, perched on the back of the couch. Beside him D2 Remy and D2 Andy were facing off in a racing game while D2 Deceit watched.

  
"Gifre's fine, babe," D2 Remy answered, concentrating on the tv screen. "If he weren't he'd have contacted us by now."

  
"Unless something happened," D2 Virgil argued, starting to mess with the strings of his hoodie. "I get that Jackal's with him but still..."

  
"Exactly, Jackal is with him," D2 Deceit said, turning so his attention was on D2 Virgil. Gently taking D2 Virgil's wrists in his hands, he pulled them away from the strings. "He's not alone on that treasure hunt of his." Just as D2 Virgil seemed to start relaxing his body, D2 Remy's sudden yell of " _Oh come on!_ " startled him. Darting his eyes over D2 Deceit hissed, " _Remy!_ "

  
Dropping his controller, D2 Remy scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked at the two. "Uh...oops? Sorry Virge."

  
"Oops is right," D2 Andy muttered, turning off the console for the time being. "The others are filming stuff; they don't need your yelling coming through."

  
D2 Virgil sighed and slumped against the wall, "It's fine Remy, it's fine."

  
"... _Look_ ," D2 Andy began, "now _I'm_ starting to get worried about Gifre too. None of us are scheduled for any filming _so_... why don't we leave the others a note and go pay Jackal a visit?"

  
"Yeah, yeah let's do that," D2 Virgil said quickly, his tone giving away the worry that was still bothering him. "The sooner we check up on him and Gifre the better."

  
"It beats losing to Andy at video games," D2 Remy commented, rolling his eyes at the smirk the other figment gave him. "And if it'll calm you down then I'm all for it babe."

  
"Agreed," D2 Deceit said, getting to his feet. "No doubt Gifre will be happy to see us as well."

* * *

  
"Welcome back to the arena folks!" The announcer yelled, standing in the middle with the spotlight on. "We got a good fight ahead of us! On the left is a wolf with a taste for trouble; _Asher!_ " With a confident smirk, Asher waved as the crowd cheered.

  
Once the noise died down the announcer continued, "And on the right is a fight or flight bruiser, _Virgil!_ " Taking a few deep breaths, Virgil focused on his opponent instead of the crowd. The last thing he wanted was to get knocked out and cause the others even more worry.

  
As soon as the announcer left, the match began. Immediately Virgil was on the defensive, not left with much of a choice by Asher. The wolf demon was quick on his feet but Virgil's reflexes to dodge danger were faster. Ducking under the demon as he lunged forward, Virgil aimed a hard punch at his abdomen.

  
Asher let out a startled yelp as he hit the ground face first. Pushing himself up to his feet, the demon started trying to circle around Virgil. However, Virgil was quick on the uptake and matched his movements, keeping Asher from getting the drop on him from behind. Growing annoyed by this, Asher let out a warning growl, making sure Virgil could see his sharp teeth.

  
"...I've seen _worse_ ; you _don't_ scare me," Virgil forced out, keeping his voice firm as he spoke.

  
"Your mistake then," Asher grunted, tackling Virgil to the ground in the blink of an eye. Pinning one of Virgil's arms down, his claws digging through the fabric of his hoodie and into his skin, Asher raised his other claws and swiftly aimed at Virgil's face. 

  
In a slight panic, Virgil curled his legs in on himself before kicking them out at Asher as hard as possible. The attack caught Asher off-guard and allowed Virgil to get back to his feet. _'Gonna have to thank Dad for showing me that trick once_ ,' Virgil thought to himself, knowing that Arlo and the others would be watching through the TV.

  
As the match continued on for at least an hour, both fighters were starting to feel the energy leaving their bodies as fatigue began to set in. "Time to end this," Asher muttered, shaking his head to wake himself up. Rushing at Virgil, he lunged at the emo with his claws and teeth shining in the light. However, Virgil had a trick up his sleeve, one that Roman would no doubt be proud of considering the inspiration for it.  
With a flash of The Lion King going through his head, Virgil mimicked Simba's final move against Scar, sending Asher flying over himself and into the cage surrounding the arena. The force of the impact left a loud bang in its wake as Asher slid down to the ground. After several tense moments to see if he'd get up again, Virgil breathed a tired sigh of relief as he didn't.

  
"Our winner for this round!" The announcer yelled as he scrambled back into the arena amidst the cheering crowd. "Give it up for _Virgil!_ "


	6. Out of the Hospital

When Mr. R opened the door he was greeted by the usual foul expressions from his captives. Purposefully ignoring them at the moment, he motioned for the guard on duty to wait outside. "S'private," Mr. R muttered, taking a seat in the now empty chair. Once the door clicked shut, he focused his attention on the others. "Alright, one of you tell me what you know about a guy in a red star shirt."

  
A look of confusion swept among them, the shared thought being - ' _There's no way he's talking about Shadow_ '. Once Mr. R began to tap his fingers on the chair impatiently, it was Logan who spoke up.

  
"Who is it that you are talking about?" Logan asked in calm voice, betraying the anger he held inside himself.

  
"Does it look like I know his name!?" Mr. R snapped, "No! What I do know is that he single-handedly took down one of my top guys over at the palace!"

  
"The palace?" Logan asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion, "What was your employee doing there?"

  
"Wouldn't _you_ like to _know_ ," Mr. R responded, gritting his teeth. "Regardless whether any of you tell me what you know or not, one of you is going into the _arena_ later. ...Whoever _does_ tell me anything useful will definitely be spared from _this_ match though..."

  
"If you're smart you'll realize he's not someone you want to mess with," Ian spoke up. "That should be clear enough to you."

  
"On the contrary - I want to see exactly what he's capable of in the arena so yeah, I do want to mess with him," Mr. R said firmly.

  
"Hmph. Your funeral then," Ian dryly remarked.

  
"Just give me his damn name!" Mr. R shouted, losing his patience.

* * *

  
"Well, how are you two doing today?" Dr. Jay asked as he closed the door. Looking over, Mendax was up and ready to get out of the hospital while Bandit was scowling. "Something wrong Bandit?"

  
Bandit grunted in annoyance, reaching behind himself to scratch, only for Mendax to slap his hand away. "Are you trying to open those stitches?" Mendax scolded.

  
"They're itching like hell!" Bandit snapped, biting at Mendax warningly.

  
"Unfortunately that's par for the course sometimes," Dr. Jay said, looking at his clipboard. "Fortunately, it means the wounds are healing up and the stitches should dissolve when they're supposed to. Anyway, once I leave this room I'll sound the alarm so you can leave undetected...and be careful, one of Mr. R's employees is waiting in the ER right now."

  
"...Shit," Bandit said, shaking his head. "If they see us-"

  
"Keep _quiet_ and follow my lead and they _won't_ ," Mendax interrupted, putting up the hood of his cloak.

  
"Oh, I can't _wait_ to get out of here," Bandit muttered, glaring at Mendax while his back was turned.

* * *

  
As the alarm blared throughout the hospital, Mendax and Bandit made their way down the back stairways. In the distance they heard one of the hospital staff calling out to them that they needed to go back to their room. Spurred on, the two jumped down from landing to landing as they heard the distinct yell of " _Security!_ " from up above.

  
"So much for not being caught..." Mendax muttered.

  
"Sheesh, you'd think they could afford some working lights here!" Bandit complained, grabbing onto the hand rails as he jumped, doing his best to ignore the itching of his back.

  
"This whole area looks like it's seen better days!" Mendax replied, running over bits of plaster and cardboard laying around.

  
"Hold it right there!" A voice yelled, startling the two. At the next landing were two security guards, one marching up the stairs and the other standing by the door they came through.

  
"Sorry but we got somewhere to be," Mendax said, using his tail to trip the guard on the stairs and dodging past the other startled guard. "Come on, just a few more sets of stairs!"

  
"Yeah, yeah!" Bandit yelled back, side-stepping both of the guards swiftly. "You better be right about that!"

  
"I am-!" Mendax yelled back as he opened the doors at the bottom floor, finally seeing the outside again. However, as soon as he did he ran into someone, knocking them both to the ground. "Who-!?"

  
"Ugh, fancy running into you here...literally," D2 Andy said, getting up from the ground.

  
"What the...?" Mendax lowered his hood, taking in who stood before him. "What are _you_ doing here?"

  
"I have a question," Bandit cut in, slamming the doors shut and leaning over Mendax's shoulder, "who is he?"

  
"Me and the guys are here looking for Gifre," D2 Andy explained. He then glanced over at Bandit, "And I could ask you the same question."

  
Mendax sighed and pushed Bandit away, "That's Bandit. I'll explain everything once we're somewhere safe. Where are the others?"

  
"Train station, got into the city ten minutes ago," D2 Andy answered. "Come on then, let's get out of here."

* * *

  
"Did you find him?" D2 Virgil asked hopefully as soon as D2 Andy returned. At the shake of the figment's head, his expression dropped.

  
"I did find one of our friends though," D2 Andy said, catching the others' attention, "oh, and some lizard guy."

  
"The name's Bandit! I told you that on the way here! And your friend told you that at the start!" Bandit snapped, coming up to the group. Behind him was Mendax, an annoyed look on the latter's face. His presence brought upon a shared look of confusion to the rest and Dee spoke up.

  
"What's going on? Why are you here?" Dee asked, gazing at his counterpart in concern.

  
"That's what I want to know," D2 Andy remarked.

  
Pulling up a chair, Mendax sat down and began to recount what had happened. "Jackal called myself and the others here a few days ago for help. Some demons were looking to raise hell - and they did alright. This idiot here," he gestured towards Bandit, "was part of the group-"

  
"Work for hire!" Bandit interjected, causing Mendax to roll his eyes.

  
"Anyway, they ambushed us - knocked us out cold. Everyone of us except for Thomas and Jackal...this demon, _Mr. R_ , he's been making us fight in the city's underground arena so he can get rich off of it," Mendax explained.

  
"And then that jackass decided it wasn't enough and threw me into the damn place as well!" Bandit snapped, growling low in his throat.

  
"Serves you right," Mendax snapped back, wanting an answer to his own question. "Now what's this about you guys looking for Gifre?"

  
"Holy shit..." D2 Remy muttered, taking in what he just heard. Out the corner of his eye he could see D2 Virgil nodding his head in agreement.

  
Dee sighed and began to speak, "Gifre was supposed to meet up with Jackal for a treasure hunt. We know that those things can take up to a few days for them but Virgil started to get worried-"

  
"And I...accidentally made everyone else start worrying too," D2 Virgil added, hiding in his hoodie a bit. "Now all of this..."

  
"Wait a minute!" D2 Remy suddenly shot up from his seat, Starbucks cup clutched in his hand, "If Jackal wasn't captured then there's a chance Gifre did meet up with him after all!"

  
"Hey yeah! And if we find them then we can move on to helping free the rest of our friends," D2 Andy added.

  
"...Good. You got a plan, so can I go back home to Ironvale now?" Bandit asked, looking annoyed.

  
"Not yet you can't," Mendax once more snapped, "you helped cause this mess, you can help fix it."


	7. Andy and Pryce vs. Storm and Stone

"We have a _special_ fight tonight!" The announcer yelled into the mic. "This one's gonna be a _tag team!_ " As soon as those words were spoken the crowded erupted into excited screaming; all the while the opponents entered the ring. On the left side were a duo of rats, one large and bulky while the other small and jumping all around. Meanwhile Andy and Pryce were on the right side, nodding at each other as a silent conversation passed between them.

  
"On the left - _Stone and Storm!_ "

  
"Yeah that's right, listen to that crowd!" The smaller one, Storm, yelled as he jumped onto Stone's shoulders. Stone merely grunted in response, shrugging his shoulders to get Storm to hop down.

  
"Remember to be on guard," Stone muttered, "we don't need a repeat of last time we were here."

  
"That was just a freak accident. Still, I got ya Stone, I got ya," Storm replied, cracking his neck with a satisfied noise.

  
"And on the right - _Andy and Pryce!_ "

  
"You go for the big guy and I'll go after the hyperactive one," Andy whispered, never taking his eyes off the other duo.

  
Pryce merely nodded, "and then switch when they least expect it."

  
"Bingo. This match is as good as _ours_ ," Andy replied.

  
"Let the match - _begin!_ "

* * *

  
"I heard you're supposed to be pretty tough! Prove it already!" Storm yelled, zipping all around Andy. The match had been going on for ten minutes so far and Storm was proving to be an annoyance more than a threat in Andy's eyes. Reaching into his pants pocket, Andy flipped open his switchblade and rushed at Storm.

  
Catching the rat off guard, Andy slashed at him with the blade, leaving a gash along his left arm. Thrown off by the sudden surge of pain, Storm stumbled back and used his tail to knock Andy to the ground with a hard thud. Grunting, Andy got back to his feet just in time to see Storm's tail headed straight for his face. Upon impact Andy found himself seeing stars just as he hit the ground again.

  
" _Shit_ ," he cursed under his breath, pain flowing through him. The pain further escalated as he felt the weight of someone land on his back.

  
"Switchblade'll only get ya so far, pal," Storm taunted, twisting one of Andy's arm's behind his back.

  
Meanwhile Pryce was having his own troubles with Stone; the larger rat shrugging off every slash of Pryce's sword, disregarding his own wounds just to go after the prince. Dodging out of the way of a punch, Pryce winced as Stone's fist connected with the cage surrounding the arena. While he didn't hear anything on par with a bone cracking the resulting bang from the impact was enough to give him pause.

  
Growling, Stone pulled his hand back and started shaking it, as if there were dirt on it. Ignoring the announcer's grimace as blood droplets flew to the floor, the rat turned his attention towards Storm and Andy, the latter whom had a boot being pressed down on his arm and back. " _Andy!_ " Pryce yelled, moving to rush over to the two, only to be stopped by a sucker punch to the gut by Stone.

  
"Hmph. Where's your confidence _now_?" Stone muttered, smirking down at Pryce as the prince gasped for air.

  
Regaining his breath and balance Pryce glared at Stone and rushed past him, holding his sword out to the side as soon as the demon made a move to grab him. The resulting shocked scream fell on deaf ears as the prince lunged at Storm, throwing his sword aside, and tackled him to the ground.

  
"Fuck," Andy grunted as he forced himself back on his feet, "my back's gonna be sore for a while." He then winced as pain shot through his arm while shaking it a bit, "That too."

  
"I'll deal with this punk!" Pryce yelled, "Take my sword and go nuts on the other guy!"

  
"Let go-!" Storm was cut off by a punch to the face.

  
" _This'll be_ _fun_ ," Andy muttered, grabbing the discarded sword and turning to face Stone, the latter stalking towards him angrily. "Your bud may have gotten the drop on me but no way you are too!"

  
"I don't _need_ to," Stone growled, charging at him, "I just need to punch your lights out!"

  
The minute Stone's fist came into proximity of his face, Andy ducked to the side, slashing the demon as he passed. Andy then put his foot out, tripping Stone and sending him stumbling towards the cage. Stone quickly put his hands out, pushing away from the cage and turning around, only to be met with several quick slashes to his chest and arms.

* * *

  
"I haven't _seen_ anything _but._.." a random demon said to Jackal. The group had fallen back onto the second plan of asking around the city and hoping that someone had seen anything suspicious.

  
" _But_...?" Jackal pressed, raising a brow.

  
"Well, there's an arena in this city you could check out," the demon said, "if you're looking for suspicious people then that place is usually swarming with 'em."

  
"Arena? Since _when_ is there an arena here?" Thomas asked, sharing a confused look with Jackal.

  
"It's _always_ been here, just hidden cause...well, you know," the demon replied, moving his hand in the air, " _Titan_. It's just...more of an open secret now."

  
"You think they'd actually be there...?" Thomas questioned, his expression growing more concerned by the second.

  
"...Who knows. It's worth checking out at least," Jackal said as he watched the other demon leave.

  
Thomas let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped, "You're right. I just hope we actually find some answers or something... Lets go meet back up with the others."

  
Jackal nodded and pat him on the back, "Maybe they'll have found out more than we did."

* * *

  
"The winners!" The announcer yelled as a bell sounded among the cheering crowd. "Andy and Pryce!"

  
Andy and Pryce sat on the ground next to each other, exhausted, as Storm and Stone were quickly taken out of the ring by the facility's medics. While the announcer and the crowd grew louder, Andy rested his head on Pryce's shoulder. " _That_...could have gone _a lot_ better."

  
Pryce merely threw an arm around Andy's shoulders in response. "At least... _we won_..."

  
"Thank you folks for coming out tonight! Be sure to check the schedule in the lobby for the next set of fights and take care!" The announcer yelled as the crowd began to leave their seats. Looking over at the two fighters, the announcer sighed and shook his head. "You two feel like you need hospital attention or just arena medic attention?"

  
The two looked at each other and just shrugged. "What if we're not sure?" Pryce asked tiredly.

  
"...I'll go call in the arena medics; they can give you a proper answer," the announcer said, climbing out of the ring.

  
Once the two were alone, Pryce tightened his arm around Andy protectively as they awaited the medics. "Love you," Pryce whispered.

  
"You too," Andy replied, moving to make himself a bit more comfortable.


	8. Defy You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally meant to be much longer but real life - mainly moving to a different state - cut into things for a while.

Aiden looked up with a glare aimed at the guards as one left and a new one stayed. Moving his head, he gazed around at the others, all of them asleep. His gaze paused on Virgil's sleeping form for a moment before moving on to Arlo and Ian. Taking a deep breath he shook his head, ' _I need to do this. For them. For everyone._ ' With a huff, Aiden pulled against his shackles, gritting his teeth as pain from the electricity coursed through him. ' _You've been through worse, you can do this! For the family!_ ' Clenching his eyes shut he continued to pull with all his might, trying his hardest to focus on freeing himself.

  
"What are you-?" The guard stopped mid-sentence as he walked over to the cell, only to see the chains keeping Aiden prisoner begin to show the signs of strain. With a low growl, Aiden gave one more hard pull and the chains broke with a loud noise, waking the others up.

  
"What was that?!" Virgil yelled, his eyes wide in fear as he jolted awake.

  
" _Aiden?!_ " Arlo shouted in shock once his brain started to piece together the scene before them.

  
"What did-?! _How?!_ " Ian also shouted, at a loss for words.

  
Panting, Aiden grabbed the now defunct shackle cuffs and forcefully ripped them from his body. Tossing them aside, Aiden marched up to the cell bars and reached through, grabbing the guard before he could react. "Open the door. _Now._ "

  
The guard merely stared in shock until Aiden let go of him, scrambling to unlock the cell door. "I-" Before the guard could get one proper word out Aiden had him pinned to the wall, glaring daggers at him.

  
"How do I free the others?" Aiden demanded to know.

  
"M-main security r-room," the guard stuttered, trying not to lose his cool.

  
"Take me there," Aiden once more demanded, letting go of the guard and shoving him towards the exit.

* * *

  
While on the long trek to the security room Aiden kept his attention focused on the guard. If the guard seemed to start stalling or trying to make up excuses to go what seemed to be a different way Aiden would simply growl at him to keep moving. "You know..." the guard began as he entered a pass code into a door's keypad, "you should have just escaped on your own while you had the chance."

  
"What the hell are-?" Aiden was cut off by the sound of a gun aimed at his head. Standing behind him was Mr. R himself.

  
"Did you _really_ think it would be that _easy_?" Mr. R asked, looking unamused. "I've been a step ahead since I captured you and your family."

  
With a smirk the guard removed one of his gloves, revealing a button attached to the inside of the cuff. "Panic button," he said tauntingly.

  
"Now, we can either do this the easy way," Mr. R gestured to the guard and the door, "or we can do this the... _messy_ way."

  
"How about..." Aiden suddenly elbowed Mr. R in the gut, causing him to drop the gun with a bang.

  
"Ah!" The guard yelled, jumping to the side in a panic as the gun went off, the sound loud enough to alert the rest of the guards in the general vicinity.

  
"Oh, you son of a-!" Mr. R was cut off by a sucker punch to the face. As he tumbled to the ground, Aiden quickly stepped over him and into the hall. Looking in the direction he had come from Aiden was greeted with the sight of several guards running towards the area.

  
" _Shit_ ," Aiden cursed under his breath as he took off running in the opposite direction. One or two guards he could easily handle but he knew, albeit reluctant to admit it, that he couldn't take down a giant group in such a confined space. ' _Arlo, Ian, I'm coming back for you two. For our family. I swear it on my life!_ '

* * *

  
Aiden grunted as he rolled across the ground outside, having jumped through a window to the shock of Mr. R's goons. Getting to his feet he made a run for the city itself, wind whipping past him as storm clouds began to gather and rain soon enough drizzled onto the streets below. His first thought was to head to the arena itself but he knew that would have to wait; he couldn't risk getting captured again, let alone so soon after escaping.

  
' _Maybe the hospital?_ ' Aiden thought to himself, feeling a chill crawl up his spine from the current weather. ' _Maybe Mendax will still be there..._ '

  
All the while Mr. R stood before the shattered window, merely staring at Aiden's swiftly retreating form. While he was furious at this chain of events his mind turned its attention to planning on how to spin this in his favor.

  
"Sir, what do we-?!" Holding up his hand, Mr. R waited for the guard to shut his mouth.

  
"Clean up this mess," Mr. R merely said, walking away from the broken window. "I'm going to contact Roger."

* * *

  
"Yes, boss?" Roger asked, ducking into one of the empty hospital hallways. Things were finally calm at the moment, the doctors and nurses returning patients to their rooms while new ones were busy being admitted by the front desk.

  
"There's been an... _incident_ ," Mr. R said, his voice crackling through Roger's communicator. "One of our " _guests_ " has escaped."

  
"Are...are you _serious_ , sir?" Roger asked in disbelief, rubbing his face in frustration.

  
"Do I _not_ sound _serious_ to you?!" Mr. R's voice screeched into Roger's ear, causing him to pull it away in a panic.

  
"Sir, sir, boss," Roger tried to calm him quickly, head darting around for any sign of someone else in the halls. "I'm still at the hospital and I'm trying to _not_ draw attention and all that jazz." Taking a breath, he moved his thumb towards the off switch as he continued, "The _rat_ and the _snake_ are gone too - gave everyone the slip."

  
" _WHAT-?!_ " Click.

  
Roger let out a sigh as he put his communicator in his pants pocket. "I'm really gonna be hearin' it from him later for that..."


	9. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I did not plan on a month long break between updates but writer's block got in the way.

Mr. R stomped into the room where the others were being held and slammed the door shut. Glaring at them, he opened his mouth several times as if he were trying to speak but couldn't get the words out. With an angry growl he turned and punched the wall beside him, leaving a few cracks behind. "He may have escaped," Mr. R growled out, looking at them from the corner of his eye, "but I still have the _rest of_ _you_..."

* * *

  
Roger shoved his hands in his pockets as he made his way out of the hospital lobby. "Check list time," he muttered to himself as he walked away, the street lamps beginning to flicker on as the sun started to set. "Find the snake and the frill, re-challenge and capture the bastard from the palace ruins, and recapture whoever the hell escaped. ... _Ugh_. I'm gonna to _need_ a stiff drink or two after all of this..."

  
"You're gonna need more than that after _I'm_ through with you," a voice rang in his ears.

  
"Wha-? Okay wise guy, where are ya?!" Roger yelled, looking around at the empty streets. "Arena or the streets, I'll take you on!" Before he could continue yelling, Roger felt someone leap on his back, wrestling him to the ground with their arms around him in a headlock.

  
"Big talk coming from someone like you," Aiden replied, glaring down at Roger. "Now tell me - is Mendax still in the hospital?"

  
"Mend-? You mean the snake guy? Hell no!" Roger snapped, wrestling in vain to escape Aiden's grip. "Him and the frill neck skedaddled on out while the place was in lock down!" To his surprise, he felt Aiden's grip loosen enough that he could breathe easier.

  
" _Good_ ," Aiden said, before reaffirming his grip, causing the demon to let out a choked breath. "Listen up. I'm willing to cut a deal with you; you help me free the rest of my family-"

  
"Like hell!" Roger yelled, coughing as the grip loosened and then tightened again.

  
"As I was saying! You help me and I'll make sure Mr. R _never_ finds your whereabouts," Aiden snapped.

  
Roger tried to swing one of his arms back at Aiden, only to fall a few inches short. "Why...why the hell would I do _that_?!"

  
"Because you look like you got a decent head on you," Aiden stated, rolling his eyes at the arm flailing, "someone who knows _when_ to get the hell out of dodge."

* * *

  
"I have an idea!" Pranks suddenly exclaimed, eyes wide as he grinned.

  
"That's not good," Missy snarked, causing Pranks to momentarily glare at him. With a huff Pranks looked at the others.

  
"I'm serious! I'll be right back!" Pranks said, his expression changing back to one of excitement. In a moment, he disappeared back into the Mindscape.

  
"...What do you think his plan is?" Thomas asked warily, wrapping his arms around himself.

  
"Probably something related to his comics," Missy replied, Shadow nodding in agreement.

  
"I'll take _any_ plan at this point," Gifre added, wincing as he accidentally moved his injured leg awkwardly.

  
"Ya know, we should probably get ya to a hos-" Jackal was cut off by Pranks reappearing, a flare gun in hand.

  
"Here's the plan - we go to the arena, we set this off, while everyone is distracted we sneak past the employees and start sabotaging the place!" Pranks yelled rapidly.

  
"Wait- set it off _inside_?!" Thomas yelled.

  
"We don't even know if the others are actually there," Shadow said at the same time. Throwing up his hands in mock surrender, Pranks waited for Thomas to calm down a bit.

  
"Yes, inside. It probably wouldn't do _much_ damage and it would still get everyone's attention," Pranks said. "And I know we don't know if they're at the arena but if they are then _that_ will be our chance to free them!"

  
Once Pranks finished his explanation, the others just started at him in surprise. "...Maybe it's just desperation," Missy began, "but that sounds like one of the smartest things I've ever heard you say."

  
Thomas let out a sigh and looked at the other three, "Guys? What do you think?"

  
Jackal merely shook his head in disbelief, "I know I'm a lawman but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, especially in a place teeming with seedy folks."

  
"I can't really offer much help with my leg being injured, unfortunately," Gifre said, a frustrated look on his face. "So sneaking around is pretty much the extent of what I can do."

  
"...If things go off the rails then I'm stepping in to unleash hell," Shadow stated, his arms crossed. "Fair warning."

* * *

  
"You better not be making us go around in circles," Mendax growled as he and the others followed Bandit. The frill merely hissed back at him.

  
"I know this city is big _but_ I also know where I'm going," Bandit muttered, stepping out of an alleyway. "Bingo," he said, pointing across the street at a building that, at first glance, looked like nothing much on the outside except for a sign with the word " _Arena_ " painted on it. "How do you even know your friends'll be there - the free ones that is?"

  
"We _don't_ ," Mendax said, "but we still need to put a stop to the place regardless, for the safety of the rest of my family."

  
"Speaking of," D2 Remy added, lowering his sunglasses a bit as he pointed off to the side of the sidewalk, "look!"

  
Confused, the rest of them looked in the direction he was pointing in and saw two figures. " _Pops_?" Mendax muttered in disbelief.

  
"The hell is Roger doing with him!?" Bandit snapped, glaring at the other demon.

  
"Wait - who's Roger?" D2 Andy asked.

  
"Mr. R's top gun," Bandit growled out, taking a step towards the street. "I got a bone to pick with him." Before any of them could react, Bandit darted across the street, yelling at Roger. Startled, Mendax gave chase to the frill, mentally cursing him for potentially drawing unwanted attention to them. Following him was D2 Andy's gang, the four briefly sharing a look of panic beforehand.

  
The next thing anyone witnessed was Bandit yelling Roger's name as he tackled his fellow demon. Taking a surprised step back, Aiden looked ready to break up the wrestling demons on the ground. " _Pops_!" Aiden suddenly heard a familiar voice yell at him and looked over.

  
"Mendax?!" Aiden was tackled in a strong hug by Mendax, stumbling back before regaining his balance. Looking up, he saw who else was following the other side. "What-?"

  
"Hey Aiden," D2 Andy said, waving awkwardly. "Good to see you again."

  
Aiden merely nodded confusedly, hugging Mendax back before they let each other go. Glancing at Bandit and Roger, Aiden huffed and grabbed each of them, pulling them apart, "Knock it off!" Turning his attention back to his friends, he spoke, "What the hell is going on?"

  
"Gifre's gone missing," D2 Deceit said, "he was supposed to meet up with Jackal. ...So we came here to look for him."

  
"We ah...we kinda _forgot_ to tell the rest of our family-" D2 Remy was interrupted by D2 Virgil.

  
"They have to know we're gone by now! They're probably running themselves ragged searching for us in the Imagination or something!" D2 Virgil yelled, hands headed for his hair as he grew more panicked by the second. However, Aiden caught his wrists and gently lowered his arms, giving him a concerned look.

  
"Woah, woah, easy there lad," Aiden said calmly, "I understand your worrying but have a bit of faith in them. Are they worried? Probably; that's cause they care. _But_ , are the lot of you fully capable of handling yourselves in case of trouble?"

  
"I..." D2 Virgil sighed, "Yeah, yeah we are."

  
"And do they understand that?" Aiden pressed onward, hoping what he was saying was making sense.

  
D2 Virgil nodded hesitantly, "Yeah."

  
"Then even if they are worried, they'd have faith in you that you'll be fine?" Aiden asked, letting D2 Virgil's wrists go.

  
Once more D2 Virgil nodded, feeling himself calm somewhat, "Yeah. They would." Pausing for a moment, D2 Virgil nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Um...thanks, Aiden."

  
"You're welcome, lad," Aiden replied. "...Now, who wants to tell me the rest of the story?"

  
"Oh, _I_ got a story alright," Bandit grumbled, still glaring daggers at Roger. "An... _informant_ helped me and the snake escape from the hospital. I wanted to go back home but he _insisted_ on dragging me with him."

  
"Yeah, to keep an eye on you," Mendax snapped at the frill neck, the latter whom now focused his attention on him. "After we escaped we ran into D2 Andy by pure dumb luck and regrouped with them."

  
"Hey! Can I put my two cents in now?" Roger spoke up, dusting his clothes off as he stood up.

  
"No," Bandit deadpanned.

  
"Too bad. Technically I'm supposed to be recapturing _you_ along with the _snake_ and _him_ ," Roger jerked his thumb at Aiden, "but with the way things are unfoldin', I'm choosin' to act like I'm still lookin' when Mr. R comes callin'. _Got it_?"

  
" _Whatever_ ," Bandit snapped, muttering profanities under his breath.

  
"What the-?! Aiden?! Mendax?!" A voice called out to the group. As they collectively turned their heads, they saw Thomas standing a short distance away, a look of shock on his face. Leaning against him was Gifre, a similar expression on his own face as he took in the sight of his boyfriends staring back at him.

  
"Guys?!" Gifre exclaimed as D2 Virgil rushed towards him, D2 Andy, D2 Deceit, and D2 Remy quickly following.

  
"Gifre!"


	10. Turnabout Is Fair Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was meaning to get this chapter done earlier but writer's block can be a persistent pain.

Gifre felt his face go pale as he took in the sight of his boyfriends. ' _What are they doing here?! They're not supposed to - it's too dangerous!_ ' He was snapped out of his thoughts by D2 Remy.

  
"Babes, what the hell happened to your leg?" The sleep figment asked, lowering his sunglasses in disbelief.

  
" _Him_ ," Gifre stated, jerking his head in the direction of Roger, the latter whom wasn't paying him much mind at the moment, merely uttering out an " _oops_ " in response. Upon the others looking ready to confront Roger, Gifre quickly realized his mistake in answering. " _Drop it._ What are you guys even doing here? Things aren't safe right now."

  
"That's _exactly_ why we're here," Dee said, reluctantly turning his attention back to Gifre, but not without giving Roger a hard glare. "Virgil started to get worried that something was wrong-"

  
"And unfortunately I was right," D2 Virgil muttered, hugging his arms around himself.

  
Seeing this Gifre put his hand on the other side's shoulder, "Hey come on, it's alright Vi. Things won't be wrong for much longer."

  
At his confident tone, D2 Virgil gave him a hesitant look, "You sure?"

  
"What's the plan?" D2 Andy asked, picking up on it as well.

  
"It's my plan, I wanna explain!" Pranks excitedly butted in before Gifre could answer.

  
"Keep your voice down!" Missy snapped, causing Pranks to roll his eyes, "We don't need anyone inside overhearing the entire thing."

  
"It's a place filled with a crowd that's probably cheering at the top of their lungs. Good luck to anyone trying to hear us from there," Pranks countered.

* * *

  
"Remember, this place - and _your paycheck_ \- is getting a nice part of the profits from this so you'd best _stop_ your damn complaining," Mr. R whispered, hand around the arena announcer's neck, lifting him up with ease.

  
"Don't shoot the messenger!" The announcer choked out, flailing his arms.

  
"I'll shoot _you_ and _the proprietor_ of this place _if I want_ ," Mr. R snapped, "do _not_ tempt me. Now, go announce the plans."

  
As soon as Mr. R let go of him, the announcer ran off through the " _Employees Only_ " doors behind him. After a few minutes passed the loud speakers boomed with life as his voice came through. "Attention folks, we have a special event tonight! A " _last fighter standing_ " if you will! As usual two fighters will go into the arena, however, when one is knocked out then another will _take their place_! When there are no more fighters from one team then whoever is left from the other will have to face their _own teammates_! Bets will be taken up to the final match!"

  
Immediately the place interrupted into hooting and hollering; Mr. R just standing back with a smirk on his face. Heading to the ring itself he was greeted to the sight of his prisoners, sitting on the benches, arms and legs shackled to prevent any " _issues_ " before they were called up to fight. "Listen up, I expect a _good_ fight out there," as he continued he side-eyed the two princes and the two emos, " _especially_ from those of you who have already been here. You set the bar high, I expect you to surpass it."

  
"All of this just so you can make money," Logan mused in a deadpan voice.

  
" _Exactly!_ " Mr. R snapped, turning his attention to the logical one. "Just hope you can apply that brain power to fighting."

  
"Why don't _you_ go in there and fight if you're so smart!?" Patton suddenly snapped, fed up and glaring at the demon who was tormenting his family.

  
Staring back at him Mr. R's expression was unreadable until finally a chuckle arose from him. " _Why?_ Simple - I'm not the one stuck in electro-chains. _You are._ " Before he could say anything else the alarm system began blaring. "What the-?!"

  
"Attention patrons!" The announcer's voice boomed over the loud speakers, "Do not panic! Some prankster merely pulled the fire-!" Suddenly the sound of a door being kicked open interrupted him and the speakers were quickly cut off.

* * *

  
"We should have gone with my idea!" Pranks complained, hiding away from some of the security guards.

  
"I can think of a thousand reasons why your plan was a horrible idea!" D2 Virgil countered, glaring at the figment.

  
"Ditto," D2 Andy remarked, peering around the corner of the hall. "Namely causing an actual fire... Come on, the coast is clear for right now." He motioned for the two to follow him, running down the hall in the direction of the main lobby to see how the others were holding up with the guards and the general chaos of the crowd.

  
"Everyone head outside while we handle these ruffians!" One of the guards yelled over the roar of the crowd. "We have this under-!" Before the guard could finished, they were knocked to the ground, causing others to start fleeing.

  
"Nah, you really don't," Bandit remarked, a foot on the guard's back. "Can't say I'm much for this " _hero_ " stuff-" he ducked out of the way as Aiden sent a different guard flying past him, "-but damn does it feel good to not be on the receiving end of a beat down!"

  
"Argh! If the crowd is outside then go lock the damn doors!" The guard underneath Bandit's foot yelled, hoping that at least one of their co-workers wasn't involved in a fight at the moment.

* * *

  
"Ack! Who-who are you?!" Came the startled voice of the announcer as he quickly realized he was trapped, a group of people blocking the doorway.

  
"Could ask you the same question," Shadow remarked, stalking towards him.

  
"Al-my name's Al!" The announcer said quickly, holding up his hands in surrender. "Look, I don't know what you want but I'm just an employee! I swear, I just do what my boss pays me to do!"

  
The next thing he knew someone quickly moved past him towards the control panel. "What we _want_ ," Gifre said, finger hovering over the " _On_ " switch for the speakers, "is to send an important message to a certain sleazeball business man. Would you like to do the honors, Thomas?"

  
"Of course," Thomas said, walking over to him after sharing a nod with Roger. Switching on the speakers, Thomas spoke in the most threatening tone he could manage.

* * *

  
"Now what-?!" Mr. R shouted as the loud speakers came on once again.

  
" _Attention Mr. R._ "

  
"No way," Teal said, sharing a disbelieving look with Dayd, who could only nod his head in response.

  
"Thomas!" Patton cheered happily, wishing his wrists were free so he could wave at Thomas through the ceiling cameras.

  
"Ha! Suck it bitch!" Remy yelled at Mr. R, smirking as the demon glared at him. Before he could do anything Thomas continued.

  
" _We have Roger captive. If you want him to be freed then you will meet with us in the lobby. Or else._ "

  
" _Unfortunately, they ain't messin' boss," Roger's voice spoke, as calm and collected as ever, just as Mr. R had come to expect over the years. "Bastards got the drop on me just before I was gonna do the same to the rat and the snake. Go figure._ "

  
Thomas' voice once more came over the loud speakers, " _You heard him. Don't keep us waiting._ "

  
Mr. R growled as the speakers shut off, looking ready to maul someone with his bare hands. Shooting one last glare at his prisoners, he stomped over to the doors and slammed them open with a loud bang. "I despise having to get my own hands dirty..."


	11. Talk About Deja Vu

"Alright, where-?!" Mr. R stopped in his tracks as soon as he entered the lobby. Tied up in a corner were a group of unconscious guards and no one else to be seen. Scowling, he took a step forward, looking around carefully for any sign of his enemies. "What's the big idea? They just all bark and no bite or something?"

  
" _You wish!_ "

  
"What-?!" His question was answered by a sucker punch to the jaw, the force of it sending him backwards onto the ground. Standing above him was who appeared to be Thomas, the latter glaring in anger at the demon. "Where the hell is Roger, you damn-?!"

  
'Thomas' grabbed Mr. R by the front of his jacket, slamming him up against the nearest wall. "He's fine, but you won't be if you don't do exactly what I say."

  
"You don't scare me!" Mr. R yelled into his face, his mouth forming into an angry snarl.

  
"Oh really?" 'Thomas' asked mockingly, a dark aura beginning to appear around himself. Within moments the hands that were holding Mr. R's jacket were now gloved and claw-like as one moved to hold Mr. R up by his neck instead. Staring at him were black and red eyes, burning with fury and hatred, as the now free hand pulled back in warning as if waiting for the right moment to stab him.

  
"You'll have to excuse Shadow," a voice called out as someone stepped into view. "He can be just as dramatic as the rest of us when he wants to be," Thomas said calmly.

  
" _Hardly_ ," Shadow muttered, rolling his eyes in annoyance before returning his attention to the demon in front of him.

  
Thomas merely snickered at Shadow's reaction before his expression turned serious. "He meant what he said though - follow our demands _or else_."

  
This was met with a growl as Mr. R gripped Shadow's wrist, " _Or else?_ Don't make me laugh - I can take both of you on!"

  
"You can't defeat all of us though," Thomas replied, hearing the sound of several quick footsteps. Just as quickly the others came into Mr. R's view, all of them at different places in the lobby though primarily near the employee door and the exits.

* * *

  
"So...who wants to guess what's going on out there?" Teal asked, breaking the uneasy silence that settled over the group. As if to answer the question several loud bangs were heard all the way from the lobby. While the bangs continued the door to the ring area opened just enough for someone to sneak through. "Huh?"

  
"So this is where all the action's been going down, huh?" Gifre asked aloud, glancing around the place as he wandered around a bit, wincing from time to time as pain shot through his leg.

  
" _Gifre?_!"

  
The collective shout of his name quickly got Gifre's attention and he made his way over to the others. "Well, ain't you guys a sight for sore eyes."

  
"What...what are you doing here?" Ian asked, confusion clear on his face.

  
"Long story; I'll explain later," Gifre replied, eyeing the shackles that kept the group prisoner. "Heard these things pack a punch."

  
"Correct - unfortunately," Logan said, "so far the only way any of us have gotten free was through brute force."

  
"Aiden. Yeah, I kind of figured," Gifre muttered, reaching a hand into one of his pockets. "He's out there with the others by the way... _Bingo_!" Pulling his hand out, he held up a small remote control. 

  
"The hell is that?" Roman asked.

  
Gifre began to mess with the settings on the device, a confident look on his face. "With any luck? Your key to freedom. Pranks swiped this thing off of Mr. R while Thomas and Shadow distracted the windbag. Here goes nothin'!" As Gifre finally pushed a button on the controller, there was a brief moment of silence as nothing seemed to happen.

  
"Well that's just great," D3 Remy began to complain, "all that for-!" He stopped mid-sentence as a loud click was heard and all at once the shackles keeping them prisoner opened, dropping to the floor.

  
"...You're welcome," Gifre said after a moment of everyone just staring in disbelief. "Now come on, I'm sure you guys are itchin' for some-" A loud crash interrupted him as the walls began to crack and crumble. "-payback? What the...?"

  
"...What's going on?" D3 Virgil asked nervously, watching the cracks spread and large chunks of debris fall to the floor with a loud noise.

  
"Good question - I'll get back to you on that," Gifre said, trying to mask his own nervousness with false confidence.

* * *

  
Back in the lobby Mr. R let out a roar as his body was twisting and changing. To everyone's shock, he leaped into the air, wings sprouting out of his back as his hands and feet became talon-like. Horns and a tail appeared on his person in immediate succession, said tail slamming into the nearest wall as a warning.

  
"Oh, you've gotta to be kidding me!" D2 Andy yelled angrily as Mr. R merely laughed. The demon had taken on the form of an anthropomorphic dragon, his dark grey scales glistening under the lights of the lobby. " _Another_ dragon?! Seriously?!"

  
"What do you mean by " _another_ "?!" Thomas shouted at him, looking panicked.

  
"First adventure we had with the D1 guys - Gunther's ex-student went into total bitch mode and turned into a dragon," D2 Remy said, glaring up at Mr. R.

  
"Ah...yes," Mr. R suddenly spoke in a rough voice, " _Damon_. My men ran afoul of him once. Whatever happened to him?"

  
"Dead and gone, just like _you_ will be if you don't back down," Dee threatened, causing Mr. R to laugh.

  
" _The only ones who will suffer that fate will be you!_ "


	12. Chaos in the Sky - Part 1

"I'm _really_ starting to hate dragons," Gifre grumbled as he forced himself up from the rubble surrounding him. Nearby a battle was raging in the streets, just outside of the now-steadily crumbling arena, as citizens fled in all directions. Shadow landed next to him, skidding to a rough stop, having been hit by Mr. R's tail.

  
"Same here," Shadow grunted as he regained his balance, kicking some debris away angrily. "...You shouldn't be fighting with your leg still injured."

  
"An injured leg ain't gonna stop me..." Gifre replied, trailing off as an idea came to mind. After a few moments of concentration Gifre's form began to change, shapeshifting into a lion. "Not when I got _three_ more!" He roared triumphantly as Shadow merely nodded his head in skeptical acknowledgement.

  
"If you're sure," Shadow said, watching as Gifre kept his injured leg raised up from the ground.

  
"You bet, let's go!"

* * *

"I can keep this up all night boys!" Mr. R taunted, watching as the sun began its descent over the horizon in the distance. With a grunt of annoyance he held one of his hands above his eyes, an occasional streak of light obscuring his vision. 'Kind of wish that damn thing would hurry it up a bit though. Lets see them just try and keep up with me under the cover of night!' He thought to himself, breathing fire into the street below, watching in amusement as his opponents scattered like ants.

  
"Prove it!" A voice defiantly called up to him. Looking at the street, Mr. R saw Arlo and Aiden side by side, glaring up at him. "Or are you going to stay up there like a _coward_?" Arlo called out, hoping that Mr. R would take the bait.

  
"You insolent little-!"

  
"Either put up or shut up!" Aiden yelled at him, watching as Mr. R's face contorted in anger, smoke escaping from his nose steadily.

  
Growling, the dragon let out a fierce roar and started flying downwards quickly. Right as he came close to the pavement he breathed out another stream of fire, flying upwards as he did, mentally laughing as Aiden and Arlo jumped out of his path.

* * *

" _Now!_ " Logan ordered as Mr. R dived downwards towards Aiden and Arlo again. Immediately Roman and Pryce dashed ahead. The next thing Mr. R knew was that he was feeling pain in his sides as he pulled back up. Glancing down, he noticed two long cuts were bleeding, the sight of which enraged him.

  
" _Who did that?!_ " He roared out, scanning the area below, eyes locking onto the two princes who each had their weapons drawn.

  
"Good idea but I don't think he's going to fall for it again, Lo!" Roman remarked, glaring up at the dragon.

  
"If we can keep him blinded by his anger then he will," Logan explained, doing his best to keep his expression calm. ' _Focus on the situation at hand, deal with the feeling of terror later when it's safe to do so._ ' He thought to himself, ' _For everyone's sake._ '

  
"Need a distraction?" A voice broke Logan from his thoughts. Looking away from the battle he saw Gifre standing next to him.

  
"Gifre, what-?" Logan began before stopping himself, quickly putting two and two together. "You _can't_ -"

  
"Sure I can," Gifre interrupted quickly, "look, I know I can't exactly fight as well as I could with my leg injured and all but I still want to help!"

  
"Gifre..." Logan began.

  
However, Gifre continued speaking, "I can distract him so that frees up Aiden and Arlo from the job - they can fight so it's a win-win!"

  
"That plan is foolish but..." Logan sighed as he looked between the battle and Gifre.

  
"But it'll work," Ian said, walking up to the duo, "we already just saw the proof."

  
"I'll help him!" Patton added, rushing over to join them while Roman and Pryce dashed off after Mr. R again.

  
" _What?!_ " Logan yelled in shock, immediately trying to regain his composure after. "I- I mean-"

  
Patton stopped Logan in his tracks by hugging him. Pulling back, he smiled at the logical one. "Logan, it's okay to be worried - I am too, so is everyone," he said sheepishly. "Everyone knows I'm not much of a fighter but I'm _not_ going to back down from helping, not when our family's lives are on the line."

  
Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "I... _I know_. Just - _be safe_ and stay by Gifre."

  
"I will," Patton replied, moving Logan's hand away and pecking him on the cheek, " _I promise_. I love you Lolo."

  
"I- uh-" Logan began to stammer as he saw Ian and Gifre looking at each other with matching smirks. Clearing his throat, Logan repeated the action towards Patton, causing the latter to beam. "I love you too, Patton. Gifre, keep him safe. Ian, you go regroup with Arlo and Aiden."

  
"Yes sir!" Gifre jokingly saluted, holding a paw to his head.

  
"You read my mind," Ian remarked, patting Logan on the back as he walked past.

* * *

Mr. R grinned evilly as he swooped down, switching up his tactic. ' _All I need is one..._ ' Breathing fire, he quickly turned off to the side as the others scattered from the flames. "Bingo!" He laughed as he grabbed one of them - Pranks - with his front claws, ascending quickly into the air.

  
"Hey!" Pranks yelped in shock as he felt claws dig into his back. He began struggling up until he looked down, realizing how far up in the air he was. His eyes widened and he hesitantly looked over his shoulder, looking right into Mr. R's face.

  
" _Boo_ ," Mr. R said mockingly, breathing smoke into his face.

  
"...Shit," Pranks uttered, flailing his arms as he tried to land any kind of punch to the dragon.

  
" _Pranks!_ " Missy yelled from down below.

  
"Kinda busy trying not to die right now!" Pranks called down, causing Mr. R to laugh.

  
"The flare gun you idiot! Use the damn flare gun!" Missy yelled again while the others regrouped on the ground. As Missy watched on nervously, Pranks' expression changed to a smirk as the words registered in his head and he reached one of his hands to his pants pocket.

  
"What fla- Argh!" Mr. R roared and threw his hands up to his face, feeling a burning sensation pulse against his scales as his vision temporarily faded.

  
"Boom, bitch!" Pranks yelled as he was dropped into a free fall, flare gun still pointed at Mr. R all the while. Underneath his confidence though he was panicking. ' _Oh shit, someone catch me! Damn it! Damn it! Damn-_!' He let out a grunt as he roughly landed in someone's arms.

  
"Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?!" Missy yelled into Pranks' ear, holding the other figment in his arms.

  
" _You're_ the one who told me to use the flare gun just now," Pranks answered, jokingly scrambling to cover his ears. With an unamused look Missy opened his arms, letting Pranks fall to the ground with a yelp and a thud. "I love you too," Pranks mumbled in a daze, rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

"Aren't either of you going to do something?!" Al screamed, grabbing both Bandit and Roger by the backs of their shirts.

  
"Hey, I only agreed to help the snake free his family! I didn't sign up to fight a freaking _dragon_!" Bandit yelled back, struggling to break Al's surprisingly strong grip.

  
"Same here. 'Sides, I've _seen_ the boss like this once before - did _not_ end well, I'll have you know," Roger remarked, his arms crossed.

  
Al growled low in his throat, baring his teeth at them. "Yeah!? Well _I_ was only supposed to be an announcer but _here. we. are._ Your boss has screwed things up for _all of us_ and I'm not about to let you turn tail and run!"

  
"...What about me?" Bandit asked after a moment of awkward silence.

  
"Don't tell me you don't want to punch his face in at least _once_ ," Al suggested, moving Bandit's head to look up at Mr. R. He could see from the frill's expression that his words were starting to fire him up. "He's the reason you're in this mess, right? Don't you just want to _repay_ him for that?"

  
"Yeah... _Hell yeah!_ " Bandit yelled angrily, clenching his fists as his frills flared open, "I've wanted to do that since I ran into him! _I'll kick his ass!_ "

  
"Then get going!" Al yelled, pushing Bandit forward towards the battle, watching as the frill took off in a rage. His attention then turned to Roger, "And _you?_ "

  
Roger let out a sigh, "There ain't any reasoning with him when he's this pissed."

  
"You're his right hand man! Surely you know some kind of weakness?!" Al glared at Roger, growing irritated.

  
"Same as any other flying creature," Roger shrugged, "damage the wings enough so they can't fly then go to town kicking their ass."

  
" _Thank you,_ " Al muttered before yelling loud enough to get everyone's attention. "Aim for his wings so he can't fly anymore!"

  
Mr. R growled and looked over, doing a double take when he saw Roger. " _Roger?!_ "

  
"I didn't have a choice boss!" Roger shouted. _'I mean, it's not technically lying to him..._ ' However, his words were met with a stream of fire aimed right at the two of them...


	13. Chaos in the Sky - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was gonna be longer but then I got distracted by working on the next story over in the All of Me AU/Dimension 4.

Shadow grunted as he threw a dark energy shield up at the last second, feeling the heat of the flames trying to bear down on their targets. Behind him were Al and Roger, the two demons clearly caught off guard, all the while Mr. R either didn't comprehend that he was aiming at Roger or he just didn't care. "Lizard! If you're going to help then get moving! I can't hold him back forever!" Shadow shouted at Bandit, the frill having frozen in shock as the flames initially passed by him. 

  
Snapping back to attention, Bandit took off towards Mr. R, yelling at Shadow as he did so, "The name's Bandit, not lizard!"

  
"Your name's gonna be " _Dead_ " once I'm through with you!" Mr. R shouted, finally breaking off his previous stream of flames to focus on Bandit. Beginning to take on a more quadruped form, Mr. R suddenly swooped down and charged for the lizard, claws outstretched as he got ready to grab his enemy. Bandit, however, had a trick of his own up his sleeve as he leaped at Mr. R. "Argh!" Mr. R growled as the frill clung onto his head, claws scraping at the dragon's scales as Bandit began scrambling up onto his back.

  
Twisting his head around, Mr. R began trying to bite at Bandit, nearly getting his tail on the first attempt. With a yelp Bandit pulled his tail back towards himself and leaped towards one of the dragon's wings, grabbing onto the wing bone as he did. "Dragon coming down!" Bandit yelled as loud as he could to the others.

  
"Oh no you don't!" Mr. R let out an enraged roar, swiping one of his claws up towards Bandit.

  
"Says you," Bandit muttered to himself as he waited for the right moment. Seconds before Mr. R could grab him Bandit jumped down, digging his claws into the wing itself as he went, causing Mr. R to yell in pain. All the while the dragon ended up grabbing his own injured wing itself with a tight grip, making the pain increase rapidly. In a haze, he didn't realize that he was quickly falling out of the air until his side met the pavement with a hard thud.

  
Bandit landed next to him, stumbling forward as he did, shaking his head as the feeling of dizziness washed over him. "Now's your chance, " _heroes_ "! Get him before he gets in the air again!"

  
"You heard Bandit, let's go!" Thomas shouted the order to the others as he rushed towards the battle. Ahead of everyone were the two princes, their swords already drawn as each rushed to the opposite side of Mr. R. The next thing the dragon felt was wetness quickly trailing down from his wings to his back, accompanied by sharp and unrelenting pain.

  
Roaring, Mr. R breathed fire in a semi-circle around himself to keep the others from getting close for the moment. He then turned his attention towards his left side, swiping at Roman with his claws. In turn Roman jumped away, hearing the sound of his shirt tear as one of the claws grazed it. "How _dare_ you harm my clothes, _you brute_!" Roman yelled with an over dramatic flair.

  
Pryce merely rolled his eyes as he got ready to hop to the ground, "Foc-ugh!" He groaned as he was caught by Mr. R's other claws roughly. With a growl, the dragon tightened his grip and raised him into the air, watching as Pryce grit his teeth in pain.

  
"Suffer!" Mr. R yelled, all the while wincing as the pain in his wings shot through him.

  
"Oh shit- Pryce!" Roman's expression quickly changed to one of alarm as he took off running towards Pryce's location, sword raised and ready to strike. Slamming his sword down with as much force as he could muster, Roman stabbed Mr. R in the leg, causing the dragon to recoil in pain. "Got ya!" Roman caught Pryce as he fell, the latter letting out pained yelp.

  
Gritting his teeth Mr. R grabbed the handle of the sword and yanked it out, "Argh! Ha...ha..." He then tossed the sword away, hoping that it would skewer someone on its impromptu flight. "One injured and one without a weapon, not so tough now are you?" He growled out as he climbed to his feet and towered over the two princes.

  
Before either could reply a loud hissing and a bang were heard followed by sudden light. "Bullseye!" Pranks yelled as he watched Mr. R recoil, his claws held up to his left eye as he began roaring and thrashing his head around. Next to him stood Missy, the latter whom was holding Pranks' flare gun from earlier in his hand. "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?!"

  
Missy merely shrugged, trying to downplay his own disbelief, "Would you believe me if I said _Time Crisis_?"

  
"Ha, nice! Looks like we got this bastard on the ropes!" Pranks yelled excitedly.

  
" _No_..." Mr. R muttered, feeling blood drip down from his eye socket, stinging the burns around it. "It's _not_ over! Not by a long shot!" With a burst of rage-fueled adrenaline he jumped into the air and landed on the roof of the arena, a loud cracking noise emitting from the building as he did so. Laughing despite the pain he was in, the dragon began breathing fire into the street below blindly, as if daring any of them to be foolish enough to try and get past the flames.

  
Once he was sure that none of them were close to getting to the building the dragon once more leaped into the air, the arena steadily crumbling behind him. Landing a few buildings away, he used his momentary boost to retreat. ' _Come on, follow me home heroes_ ,' he thought as the building he originally kept them locked up in came into view. ' _Come back to where you started..._ '

* * *

  
"Pryce! Roman! Are you guys alright?!" Thomas called out, running over to them once the coast was clear of danger.

  
"Never better," Pryce said with a wince as Roman helped him stand. "No one got burned did they?"

  
Thomas looked around at the others as they finally had the chance to regroup. Other than some brief looks of exhaustion here and there, it appeared to him that they were mostly alright. "No," Thomas finally answered, shaking his head.

  
"We need to end this. _Now_." Shadow interrupted, looking ready to chase Mr. R down as he spoke.

  
"It's a trap," Roger spoke up, getting everyone's attention.

  
"...What is?" Thomas asked, giving him a confused look.

  
"The location he's going to - _the building_ ," Roger explained, a scowl on his face. "All of you guys go into that building? You'll be as good as dead." Roger took a moment to make sure they were paying close attention. "He's pissed and most likely blind in one eye now," he nodded at Missy, looking between him and the flare gun, "but he's still _smart_ \- smart enough to collapse the building on you guys."

  
"So what, we're at some kind of stalemate until he gets fed up and comes looking for us again!?" D3 Andy snapped, having moved to help Roman with keeping Pryce on his feet.

  
Roger let out a frustrated sigh, " _Again_. He's _smart_ \- he's _not_ going to waste a building just to take out a few people. An entire group of you? Yeah, but not a few."

  
After a moment a look of realization came over Thomas and he felt a surge of confidence wash through him. "I know what to do! I have the perfect plan you guys..."


	14. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

"You sure about this?" Jackal asked, looking unconvinced by Thomas' plan. He gazed up at the building Mr. R had been using as his base of operations apprehensively.

  
Thomas merely nodded, ignoring the look Jackal gave him. He started towards the front door, steeling himself for what lied ahead. "This is the best chance we have." In the mind palace the others waited, tension and uncertainty surrounding them like a fog.

  
"Fine but the minute things feel like they're getting out of hand, you get out of there," Jackal said sternly. "Got it?"

  
"Got it," Thomas answered, pulling the door open with some effort, the hinges clearly sounding like they needed oil. "Stay on guard out here, guys."

  
"Don't have to tell us twice," D2 Andy commented dryly.

* * *

  
Making his way through the floors, Thomas looked through some of the rooms that remained unlocked, hoping to find something he could use either as a weapon or as a potential distraction. The first floors rooms he checked yielded nothing except for shredded papers and dust-covered office supplies. However, the closer he got to the final floor the more the rooms shifted from offices to what Thomas expected of Mr. R's place - ammo shells littering the floor and stockpiles of empty supply crates.

  
"Something's not right," Thomas heard D3 Virgil's voice as the side popped up, "trap or not, Mr. R doesn't seem like the kind of guy to tell his guards to get lost... Where are they?"

  
"...With him, if I had to guess, " Thomas said aloud, kneeling down to pick up a piece of broken pipe among the mess on the floor.

  
Inspecting it, Thomas heard Logan's voice next, "That's not an ideal weapon, especially if he does in fact have armed guards with him."

  
"Not much of a distraction either but we gotta work with what we can," Thomas answered, looking over at both of them. "What do you think? Three of us isn't enough for Mr. R to try taking down the building, is it?"

  
" _Hypothetically_ -" Logan was interrupted by D3 Virgil.

  
"Who knows with that guy? How do we know what Roger said is even right?" D3 Virgil asked, keeping his voice quiet as he quickly glanced at his surroundings.

  
Logan sighed, "Virgil makes a good point but there are too many variables that would lead to several different outcomes. The most straightforward choice would be the best one in a situation such as this."

  
A loud creak was heard from the floor above, followed by loud yelling from what sounded like Mr. R. "...We can discuss this all we want later," Thomas finally said after what felt like several minutes of tense silence. "Both of you - go back to the Mind Palace for now, we're sticking with the plan as is."

* * *

  
"On your guard," Mr. R ordered his men, hearing the doorknob to his office turning. In the room with him were several henchmen; armed with guns that were pointed at the door. "Hold your fire until I give the order."

  
" _Yes sir!_ "

  
Mr. R smirked as Thomas entered the room, only for him to take a step back at the sight of the armed guards. "So you followed me. Where are the others? Hiding away in the city like cowards?"

  
Steeling himself, Thomas glared at the dragon, "The only coward I see here is you. All that power and you still resort to having guards do your work for you."

  
Mr. R growled, smoke coming out of his nose. "Don't mistake being smart for being a coward! ...Speaking of smart, prove that _you_ are and drop your pathetic excuse of a weapon," he remarked, eyeing the pipe Thomas held in mild amusement. Before either of them could do or say anything else, the sound of a generator powering down was heard and the next thing they knew, they were enveloped in darkness.

  
" _What the-?!_ "

* * *

  
" _Hey!_ "

  
Down below at ground level, Jackal pressed his back against the door to keep it open, peering into the darkness that followed. "I take it you found something?"

  
"Generator room," Dee's voice was heard, tinged with exasperation.

  
"Remy, I told you not to touch anything!" D2 Andy yelled, causing Jackal to shake his head as the aforementioned figment claimed that it was " _definitely not on purpose this time_ ".

  
"Of course," Jackal muttered to himself, listening as the latter began arguing with the former. Just then a shout of " _what the?!_ " caught his attention, making him look up at the building in disbelief.

  
D2 Virgil quickly walked out, standing besides the sheriff and looking equally confused, "...Was that Mr. R?"

  
Jackal nodded his head after a brief moment, "Definitely. Figures, a loud mouth like _him_ after all..."

* * *

  
In the midst of the darkness, Thomas quietly took several steps back through the door he came from. Moving far enough away while still being in touching distance, he took a deep breath and slammed the door shut. Accidentally stumbling into one of the side rooms, he heard the sound of yelling and guns being fired. "Too close, _too close_!"

  
"You're telling me, Sanders!" D3 Virgil yelled angrily as he popped up next to him, startling Thomas by accident.

  
"Not helping!" Thomas yelled back, feeling his way back to the door. The gun shots had stopped thankfully but now he could hear Mr. R yelling.

  
"Whoever's not injured, hold your damn fire!" Mr. R screamed, reaching around his desk for something to light on fire. Grabbing several stacks of paper, the dragon concentrated and blew a small ember onto them, looking around the dimly lit room. Several of his men were on the floor, some bleeding and out of it while some were merely ducking for whatever cover they could find. Doing a quick headcount, he realized that Thomas was no longer there. "And he called _me_ a coward..."

  
"Uh...sir?" One of the uninjured guards asked nervously, "what should we do now?"

  
Mr. R moved the papers in his hand, lighting up the room as he scanned it for supplies. "East corner," he said, smothering the remaining flames with his other hand as the papers were quickly eaten through. "Flashlights. One per two of ya and go find our " _visitor_ "; he couldn't have gotten far in the darkness - and someone had better go investigate the damn generator room down below!"

  
"What if we can't find him?" One of the other guards piped up, "I mean, even if we do get the power back on?"

  
Mr. R growled, tapping his claws impatiently on his desk, "Then I guess I'll just have to _fire_ you for incompetence. Now go!"

* * *

  
"You have to hide. _Now_." D3 Virgil said urgently, hearing a door open and several footsteps coming down the hall.

  
"Where?! I can't even see the area around us!" Thomas yelled, voice sounding as nervous as the two of them felt.

  
"In plain sight," Shadow spoke, appearing next to the two, causing D3 Virgil to let out a surprised hiss and startling Thomas even further.

  
"Okay, can you guys _please_ _stop_ doing that while I _can't see_?" Thomas muttered, exasperated. "And what do you-?"

  
"Trust me," Shadow said calmly, moving to stand by the door, "And be ready with that pipe."

  
The moment two of Mr. R's men entered the room was like a blur; the second one in yelled as Shadow grabbed him. Grabbing the back of his head, Shadow slammed him against the wall, knocking him out cold. Immediately after, the first one had his flashlight and weapon trained on Shadow. " _Freeze!_ "

  
" _Now!_ " Shadow yelled, barring his teeth in warning at the guard.

  
"Wha-?" With a loud clang the pipe connected with its target, knocking him out as well. Standing there in a mixture of shock and adrenaline was Thomas, the human breathing heavily.

  
Next to him was D3 Virgil, the side's eyes wide in disbelief. " _Holy shit..._ " was what he finally managed to get out. Suddenly struck by a thought, he grabbed the flashlight by their bodies and made his way to the door, closing it slowly and quietly before moving away. "...We should wait until the coast is clear; if they think this room was searched-"

  
"Then we can make a beeline right back to Mr. R while they're busy with the others," Thomas finished, kneeling down to take one of the weapons - a shotgun - from the guards. "Haven't used one of these before...outside of video games, at least."

  
"Anything's better than that pipe," Shadow remarked. "Especially against a dragon."


	15. Victory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of Rescue is finally here; but it's definitely not the end of the adventures for our heroes.

"Be ready," Thomas said, taking a deep breath as he got ready to open the door to Mr. R's office.

  
"Be careful," Shadow replied, waiting just out of view.

  
Mr. R shot an annoyed look at the door as it opened, expecting one of his guards to be on the other side, only to be greeted with the sight of Thomas holding a shotgun instead. Blowing smoke out of his nose, the dragon slammed his claws down on his desk as he stood up, shoving it out of his way with a crash. "They had _one_ job and yet they _still_ manage to surprise me with failure."

  
"Why don't you pull your own surprise and just give up then?" Thomas remarked, keeping his eyes trained on Mr. R. " _Don't make me use this._ "

  
"You don't even know how to shoot, _do you_?" Mr. R asked mockingly. "You're more likely to shoot your own fo-"

  
A loud shot rang out interrupting him mid speech. Thomas had the gun pointed at the ceiling as debris fell next to him. With a glare, he asked, "You were saying?"

  
"A ceiling vs. a moving target, big difference there," Mr. R replied, a look of confidence on his face as he suddenly rushed at Thomas.

  
"Now!" Thomas yelled, side-stepping as Shadow lunged through the door at Mr. R.

  
Shadow tackled Mr. R to the ground, grabbing his throat with one hand and using the other to drag his claws down the dragon's left arm. Mr. R let out a choked noise as pain shot through him and in his scrambling to get free, he drew his feet in towards himself. Grabbing Shadow's shirt with his right hand, he angled his feet upwards and kicked them out, using his hand to effectively flip Shadow over his head. Using his tail for balance, Mr. R stood back up as Shadow hit the ground with a thud, only to be met with a gun shot and pain shooting through one of his wings.

  
"Shadow! Are you alright?!" Thomas called out to him, reloading the gun.

  
"Of course," Shadow grunted as he jumped back to his feet. While Mr. R roared in pain Shadow tackled him to the ground again, greeting him with a sucker punch to the face. He then clawed at the dragon's chest, arms, and face, as if he were a lion mauling its prey.

  
Feeling a surge of anger rising in him, Mr. R opened his mouth, breathing fire at his attacker. Shadow, however, defended himself with his dark energy shield from earlier, jumping back from the dragon. Thomas then shot Mr. R in the side as he struggled to stand up once more, causing him to stumble around. Dispelling the shield for now, Shadow once more sucker punched Mr. R to keep the dragon's attention on himself and away from Thomas.

  
"Come on hothead, _attack me_!" Shadow taunted, barring his teeth at the dragon. In his pain-fueled haze Mr. R didn't even notice that Shadow was slowly leading him towards the window. Finally, he had enough of the taunting and lunged at Shadow, who dodged out of the way. "Shoot him!"

  
As soon as Mr. R heard those words he turned to look at Thomas, only to be met with a gun shot to the stomach that sent him out the window. Time stood still as Mr. R stared at the building he just came from, his wings too injured to fly himself to safety. In a final act of desperation, he blew fire out of his mouth, hitting part of the ceiling as he fell to the ground below.

* * *

  
Jackal's eyes widened as he heard a loud crash nearby. Running around the side of the building, he came face to face with the unconscious body of Mr. R. "Hooooly...they actually did it!" Jackal exclaimed, shaking his head. Looking up, he caught sight of smoke and flames coming from above and he felt his blood run cold. Taking off back to the front of the building, he slammed the door open with a loud bang. "Guys! Get the hell out of here now!"

  
"Jackal? What's-?" D2 Andy was cut off by the sheriff.

  
"There's a damn fire going on up above! Now get moving!" Jackal ordered, watching as the group of five hightailed it out of the building.

  
" _Hey!_ " One of Mr. R's henchmen yelled, pointing a pistol at Jackal as he rounded a corner.

  
"Oh for the love of-! We don't got time for this!" Jackal yelled in frustration.

  
"Should have thought of that before coming here," the guard replied, taking several steps towards Jackal.

  
"Your boss is dead - or injured - outside, you idiot," Jackal snapped, "and if you don't want to end up the same you'll get the hell out of here!"

  
"Bulls-!" The guard stopped himself as his earpiece received a transmission. Grumbling, he tapped on it, "What? I'm busy dealing with an intruder."

  
"There's a fire on the top floor and it's spreading," an urgent voice said through the earpiece. "The rest of us are making our way down now. Over and out."

  
The guard lowered his pistol, glaring at Jackal who merely glared back. "Fine. So you're right," he muttered, stomping past his fellow demon. The minute he stepped outside he felt something hit the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

  
"Gifre!" D2 Virgil looked between the unconscious guard and his boyfriend.

  
"Come on, he had it coming just for pointing a gun at Jackal," Gifre said, shrugging his shoulders.

  
"Yeah well be ready," Jackal said, joining them outside. "The rest of those guards are going to be here soon."

  
"Hold up! What about the others?" D2 Remy asked.

  
"They should be on their way down too," Jackal answered, looking back through the door. "...They better."

* * *

  
Thomas and Shadow ran through the halls and down each flight of stairs, the flames seemingly chasing them as they went. All around them were the sounds of a building whose structural upkeep was long neglected; beams groaning as they fell, holes in the walls and chipped paint illuminated by the deadly light source. At one point they ran into a few guards who took one look at the terror following them and fled.

  
As Thomas hurried down one of the staircases, he panicked as he felt them give away. He felt Shadow grab his shoulders and yank him backwards towards the dark side. "Hold on," Shadow said.

  
"Wha-?!" Thomas yelped as Shadow lifted him up in a fireman's carry.

  
"Keep your shirt covering your nose like you've been doing!" Shadow yelled, "And brace yourself!"

  
Doing as he was told, Thomas' eyes widened as he saw the flames engulf the hallway they were just down. The next thing he knew, Shadow jumped down the flight of stairs and made a mad dash down the next hallway. The whole time Shadow felt his entire body screaming at him, exhaustion from everything they've dealt with because of Mr. R finally starting to quickly catch up with him. ' _I can't give in! Not until he's safe!_ ' Shadow thought to himself, gritting his teeth in determination.

  
After what felt like a hellish eternity of just barely escaping the deadly heat that chased them, Shadow finally saw the exit and could heard the voices of the others from outside. With a burst of adrenaline, Shadow lunged through the doorway, finally putting Thomas down once they were outside.

  
"Shadow! You didn't h-!" Thomas began as Jackal spoke at the same time.

  
"Are you two alright?!" Suddenly, a loud siren was heard that caught everyone's attention, hero and henchmen alike. The city's fire department arrived on the scene to contain the situation, leaving them confused.

  
"Who...how'd you know what was going on here?" Dee asked, not really expecting an answer though.

  
"We got a call to come here," one of the firefighters said, focusing on the task at hand. "The paramedics should be here in a few moments."

  
"Good," Jackal said, looking at Thomas and Shadow, the latter whom looked ready to pass out. "We're going to need 'em."

* * *

  
"Well, you get a clean bill of health, sir," Dr. Jay said, looking at his chart and then at Thomas.

  
"What about Shadow?" Thomas asked worriedly.

  
"Your friend is fine; just a minor case of exhaustion that some much needed rest will fix," the doctor answered. He then stared at Thomas questioningly, "Speaking of friends - how's Mendax?"

  
Thomas blinked and looked at him in surprise, "You know Mendax?"

  
Dr. Jay nodded and then whispered, "He was a patient of mine very briefly - him and Bandit. I...suppose you could say I helped them escape the hospital. Just don't tell anyone, okay?"

  
Thomas let out a small laugh and nodded, "Your secret's safe with me. So...can I go see Shadow?"

  
Dr. Jay opened the door with a smile, "Of course. He's in room 205, just down the hall. If you need to see me for any reason, just ask at the nurse's station and they'll page me."

  
"Yeah, okay. Thanks doc..." Thomas trailed off as a thought hit him, "Hey...uh...what about the- um- the dragon? Mr. R?"

  
Dr. Jay's expression hardened at the mention of Mr. R's name, "Reginald has been taken to Nightfall's own prison. He's been put into a re-enforced cell and is receiving treatment there. Those guards of his were also taken there for the time being."

  
"Wait- _you know his name_?" Thomas asked, raising a brow. "And are you sure that he won't escape?"

  
"...Regi and I were once childhood friends, a long time ago," Dr. Jay finally said. "As for the prison, its construction was originally overseen by... _the former emperor_. He's not going to be getting out for a long time."

* * *

  
"So whatever happened to that Roger guy?" D2 Remy asked, sitting in the cafeteria with his boyfriends and Jackal.

  
"Found out from Al that Roger was the guy who called in the fire department," Jackal muttered, taking a sip from his coffee cup. "After that he up and disappeared."

  
"So he's still out there," D2 Andy said, looking less than thrilled at the thought.

  
"Mhm. I don't know though, I get the feeling we won't have to worry about him again," Jackal answered, "especially not after Mr. R basically turned on him."

  
"What about Bandit?" Dee asked, poking at the questionable cafeteria food before him.

  
"Probably went back home. No doubt Gifre and I'll probably be running into him in the future though," Jackal replied.

  
Gifre looked up in realization, "Hey yeah! He's a treasure hunter too! _He's competition!_ "

  
D2 Virgil shook his head, "Just hope next time you two plan something like that it doesn't end up like this again."

  
"Even if that worse case scenario were to happen, we handled this once," D2 Andy said, putting an arm around D2 Virgil's shoulders. "Not saying I _want_ it to happen again but - we can handle it."

  
"Speaking of handle," Gifre butt in, "whose gonna handle the others once we finally get home? Pretty sure we've been gone without a trace for a few days now."

  
Upon remembering that fact, the other four shared a look of wide-eyed panic followed by shouts of " _not it_!".

* * *

  
Once Thomas walked into the room Shadow was in, he saw Missy and Pranks sitting around near the bed. "Hey guys," Thomas whispered, "haven't exactly had a moment to check on you and the others...they doing okay?"

  
Missy sighed and nodded, "Everyone was shaken up but before we left things were calming down."

  
"You should definitely talk to them when we finally get home though," Pranks said, looking up from his comic book. " _Especially_ Virgil."

  
Thomas scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, I know - I'm gonna get more than an earful from him. ...Has Shadow woken up at all?"

  
Pranks shrugged, "Not really? I mean, he woke up a few times-"

  
"But he's been pretty out of it," Missy finished. "Doctor said it was exhaustion."

  
Thomas nodded, "That's what he told me too. This whole adventure's been rough."

  
"Understatement of the year," Pranks said, noticing that Shadow was starting to move again. "Hey, maybe he'll be more awake this time!"

  
Shadow groaned as he opened his eyes, putting a hand over them as the lights in the room came into view. Once he was sure his vision adjusted he moved his hand away from his face. "Where am I?"

  
"Hospital," Thomas answered, moving to stand beside his bed. "How're you feeling?"

  
"Hmm," Shadow merely grunted, sitting up in the bed. "Been better. What about that damn dragon?"

  
"Locked up in a re-enforced cell for a long time," Thomas said. "You did a good job, Shadow."

  
Shadow simply shrugged, "So did you - would have been a lot tougher without that shot gun you used."

  
Thomas laughed a bit awkwardly at that, "Which is saying something - Mr. R was right, I had no idea how to use that thing. I don't think I wanna learn properly either; it's not really for me."

* * *

  
After several hours of rest and Shadow's eventually stubborn insistence that he was fine, he was free to go. Both groups were now hanging around Jackal's office, offering their goodbyes to each other and to the sheriff. Gifre's group was the first to go home, stepping through a portal into the familiar surroundings of D2 Thomas's home. As the portal closed behind them, they were greeted with a shout of " _where have you been?!_ " followed by the appearance of some very worried family.

  
"It's...a long story," D2 Virgil said, getting swept up in one of D2 Patton's hugs.

  
"We were so worried about you guys!" D2 Patton exclaimed, hugging D2 Virgil as tightly as possible. The emo awkwardly freed one of his arms from the bone-crushing hug and pat him on the back.

  
"Gifre, what happened to your leg?" D2 Dayd asked, spying the makeshift bandages underneath the torn pants leg.

  
"Er..." Gifre trailed off, "...Like Virge said, it's a long story. You guys _might_ wanna sit down for it."

* * *

  
The minute the portal closed behind Thomas, Pranks, Missy, and Shadow the others appeared in Thomas' living room, each of them looking varying degrees of tired. "I- Sorry about everything," Thomas began, only for Virgil to hold his hand up.

  
"Apologize later, sleep _now_ ," he said tiredly.

  
"What? In the living room?" Thomas asked, tilting his head.

  
"Cuddle pile!" Patton exclaimed happily, somehow still having more energy than the others.

  
"Well, that's new," Thomas remarked with a smile.

  
"Everyone whose too tired to care what we call it, say aye," Andy snarked.

  
"Aye!" Everyone else said at once, causing Thomas to laugh. His attention then turned to Shadow.

  
"What about you Shadow? Do you want in on this?" Thomas asked.

  
"... _After_ I check up on Tempest first," Shadow said.

  
Thomas grinned at him, "I'm holding you to it."

* * *

  
Jackal sighed as he slumped in his chair. "Finally, I can relax for a bit."

  
"Sir?" One of the jail's guards cracked open the door, peeking in.

  
" _Or not_ ," Jackal muttered. "What's up?"

  
The guard stepped aside, opening the door as he did. Standing in the doorway was Roger of all people. "He...he said he was here to turn himself in? I mean, we have no records in our files on whoever this is?"

  
Jackal nodded his head, "That's alright, just stand by for a moment." Getting up from his desk, he waved Roger in and stared at him. "What's your game?"

  
Roger held up his hands where Jackal could see them, "No game, sheriff. The entire city and the surrounding area is gonna be looking for me once Mr. R's former guards spill everything they know. Between that and the crap he's already pulled... _Honestly?_ I'd rather be locked up here than anywhere near _him_ , for both our sake's."

  
Jackal merely stared at him for several minutes before shaking his head. "I think this is the first and only time I've ever had someone turn themselves in...though between here and the building Mr. R is in, can't say I blame ya there. _Guard._ "

  
"Yes, sir?" The guard asked, standing at attention.

  
"Go get Roger here processed and in a cell," Jackal ordered, watching as the guard led Roger away. Moving to sit back down in his chair, he leaned back and stared at the door as it closed. "...Yeah, we won't have to worry about him again. Mr. R made sure _that_ bridge was burned too."


End file.
